Ant Life Rebuild

Wordpress is soo wow!

2005-12-19T11:18:00.000-08:00

This http://vinu.wordpress.com/ is my new blog. I will be blogging there on multiple topics and I shall keep this blog more for tech related stuff. Of course, everything I have to say will first go there and then here. however, I will write a post with just the 'titles' in that blog to keep the connection going.

“I am pressed for words is my review for Wordpress” :-) . The usability and user experience is amazing cool! I have decided to try wordpress as there was ability to add categories unlike blogger.

I have a blogger account which I have been writing on mostly Web 2.0 and technology stuff. But lately, I relized I want write on lots of things! Currently I have 285 feeds on my RSS reader (bloglines) and my interests are diverse.

And its also exciting to see that there is a way to host my blog on own my own Mac mini and the bloggin platform is open source. Amazingly cool :D How or why did I not try it for soo long? Beats me …

I still have doubts on how much storage I am given on this i.e wordpress.com. I blogger I assume is unlimited. Is it the same over here even if I don’t host my site?

But surely, do check it out - I mean it! setting up your blog - less than ONE minute. And up with your first post less than FIVE minutes. Talk about usability and speed i.e efficiency!!

Yahoo getting creative?!

2005-12-19T10:46:00.000-08:00

I am really excited to see this new feature in Yahoo search. I think this is definitely the route Yahoo should take. They should go ahead and bring this feature right to the main search page!

With the big talk about copyrights and 'printing' - searching those things that only are given the "Creative Commons" or "Attention" helps the users (atleast) the trouble to find out what to do with either the website content, picture or now video!

Of course, they should do a better job of education the people about this - the different type of creative commons tag is definitely confusing!

Just went to the website - http://creativecommons.org/ and there it says in the bottom as one of the annoucements:

Nov 2005 Google released Creative Commons-enabled search. Now you can use Google to search the web for CC-licensed works via our find page and Google's advanced search.

MORE surprise!
http://creativecommons.org/find/

gives the oppurtunity to search via both Google and Yahoo, defaulting to Google! Now, give me a break - WHY IS THIS NOT ANNOUNCED ON THEIR WEBSITE or the bloggin world mentioning it? Did I not follow the news?? Hello, is anybody out there??

Worried about google?

2005-12-08T13:20:00.000-08:00

Liz Lawley
Originally uploaded by theloudlibrarian.

I had seen this picture a whole month ago when i was attending tagcamp! Actually wanted to write an entire article on this specific picture. Guess its not going to materialize but my thoughts.

Slight modification in the words

"Google: Catalyst for digitization AND Library Destruction"

Another point to note : one can see convergence here - in form of computers (powerpoint), mobile (camera phone) and paper (its the librarians after all!) in one picture :D

fun at Bloglines!

2005-12-02T14:35:00.000-08:00

screenshot1.jpeg, originally uploaded by eindia.

I think its hightime the folks at Flickr or the other new Web 2.0 service learn this! I was trying to access Bloglines two weeks back and boom they are down!

Now I realize and it me real hard this time! Even if I am ready to pay money now - I am not going get my articles, news or information right now when I want it, where I want it and how I want!!! I may loose money on short selling the stock of mine ... brrr

However, looking at this funny face. I didn't feel angry. I smiled! I even empathized. Gave me a feeling poor folks at Bloglines are working hard! (I wonder what they are doing I don't see a bloody change ... I like it just as it is :D)

But to compare - I have started to hate flickr lately. Their downtimes have been going up! => they ask me go see their blog or do something else when they get ready. I need my pics and need to use my pics when i am paying a whole $25 for usage. It may be cool but when I pay I expect 100% uptime. suggestion - Use one of my 'pictures' (I mean personlize) and say " sorry I know you need your cool pics but hey - we are working hard. "

Talk about personalization and calming down the user - 'atleast' the 'pro' ones. After all this is a 'Yahoo' company - is this what we got to expect especially when i am paying money?? Yahoo 2.0 (0 as in Naught = zero?! #@$!)

my analytics: all for free 'e'!

2005-11-24T13:56:00.000-08:00

I just checked up my Google analytics account for this blog and voila - I was impressed. Especially with not much of writing over the past month! So, if anyone is reading this now - watch out for this post I have really cool things to share and write about. Atleast I feel motivated and assured that I am not crying out into the so called world wide web with no one reading me ;-0

Also a very timely post 'Seven deadly sins of bloggin' lists these points:

1. Using Free Blog Hosting Services
2. Ignoring the Basic Principles of Good Web Site Design and Usability
3. Being the Jack Of All Trades
4. Not Posting Regularly
5. Publishing Badly Written Posts
6. Spamming and Stealing
7. Failing to Establish a Personality

I strongly agree to 2,4,5,6 and 7.

Disagree to 1 and 3. Anyway there will more or less reasons. atleast here I can voice my opinion ...

Also from now on -

a. the cool podcasts I listen to will be playable in my blog thanks to the delicious team for writing the playtagger script.

b. Also I may put the flickr sets as slideshows in the blog itself! checkout this hack.

Makes my life simple as it is for putting pics from flickr. In the same way, as this VC explains about 'life at the edge' on the web atleast rocks! :-)

Time for some kewl Deals!!

2005-11-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

I am back in India and its Thanksgiving time in the US! Looking at the rush for XBox360, i am sure there are lot of people who would love to look for great deals for thanksgiving especially Black Friday deals.

Now with 'RSS' into picture - getting deals onto ur news reader should be really cool and easy.

http://www.dealazon.com/
Dealazon - Searches Amazon's API and stores the best deals. You can subscribe to complex RSS feeds such as "lcd monitors on sale for 40% off or more, and less than $300".

Pete Freitag gives all the deal sites in one place => hope this is useful for someone.

I am yearning for a LCD Monitor. If anyone is coming to Bombay and is reading this then do contact me asap!! :D The price difference in electronice is too much! I wonder why. After all the stuff is made very near to India - Thailand and Indonesia but the difference is almost 80%. I am looking was 19in LCD monitor and in India the cheapest is Rs 38,000 and I am sure I will get for $200 (Rs 9,000) in the US aaargh this sucks big time .... talk about luxury! and apna desh.

My personal favs for deal sites were:
http://www.bensbargains.net/
http://www.techbargains.com/
http://www.slickdeals.net/

Happy gadgeting all of you. Kick off the holiday season in style!! n yeah - Happy Thanksgiving. Do enjoy your time with the family as I am doing here :)

a page full of utilities

2005-11-03T12:35:00.000-08:00

This is one helluva compilation! The article "I want to - a page of uitilities that help you do stuff you want to" is a really cool page". Some great apps.

The ones I would recommend: {I am not giving the link in this page - just google with the name and mostly it will be the first link}

Flickr => Free, commercial version available. Allows tagging and pooling of pictures
YouSendIT => Files up to 1GB
Writely => Meeting notes, team calendars, signup sheets, proposals, you name it.
Linkedin => Find people, jobs, make new contacts. I use this one myself
Trillian => Chat to friends on mIRC, AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo!
Odeo => Listen, Sync, create your own (New)
Orb => Connect to your desktop from your laptop or PDA
Voo2do => advanced task and priority management for busy, ambitious individuals
Del.icio.us => is the best known of all these services. Try this one first of all.
http://www.google.com/ig iGoogle => customized google.
Start => Microsoft start RSS 'my page'
Bloglines => It's the one that I use as my newspaper
Wink =>D/l the software, create your own walk thru tutorials. Free and easy to use. Fun too!
Wikispaces => Create a Wiki, Free service (New)

Enjoy the new Web 2.0 or (Live - as microsoft puts it experience)

Who owns the internet???

2005-11-02T14:57:00.000-08:00

I just read this article from Techdirt " SBC: We Own The Internet, So Google Should Pay Up ". I personally see internet as the place built by the people. Yes, cable companies did invest. But what is their worth with out the people using them and the companies offering serives.

Coming from India - the government is trying its so called best as frankly speaking it feels there are more pressing mattes in hand and longer we delay more better will the technology will be. For example in terms of policies - voip inside the India (internationally its ok!) is not allowed untill 2007 i think (somebody correct me). The policy is so as to give the telcos enough competitive advantage to break even with the investments they have made. Makes no sense!! who is the loser here?? The people of course ... There is no need to use a car just because you bought it when cycling is faster, cheaper and makes sense. Politics and lobbying is what rules in the Indian scenario atleast.

Consider the US Scenario, the whole US is dependent on the internet for its economy existence and functioning. Right from the travel industry, seeing maps, communicating => everything is on the internet. What would happen if suddenly SBC decided to say => 'oops sorry we don't want to provide you internet! for these services ...' The outcome would be worse than a powercut! It may not come as a surprise to me with where the net is going with blogging, podcasting, video downloads, torrents. The entire mass media channel which government used to treasure. Due to its control and influence .. and yeah - the kick backs is getting routed in a totally another new medium which can never be controlled centrally!

Of course that would never happen (in the immediate future) - Money talks instead. The companies and Politicians will settle things on their own. Its all about getting greedy - result of a 'purely' capitalist economy with not much ethics in place. If instead of accepting these paradigm shifts and finding way to work along, they keep fightin - the ultimate loser will be the government. Because people realize for the first time that the don't have to depend on the government on this matter ... its 'THE PEOPLE' who are in the drivers seat. They are going to take off irrespective of whether the government 'in' or 'out'!!

Finishing in the spirit of 'Diwali' - let there be light (knowledge) and let the good win over the evil. Happy Diwali folks:

Update: Read this article posted recently (nov 6 2005) "Don't buy DSL ..."

chilling at TagCamp

2005-11-01T13:39:00.000-08:00

I know this is very late blogpost. You can find right now 176 blogposts on tagcamp on google blog search. And around 820 pictures on flickr. And even me!! Pics taken by me at my photoset 'tagCamp'.

My thoughts:

My first kind of interaction with the 'energetic' people at the Silicon Valley. Hope I will be coming to the US or any other place in the world where I can feel the energy. The details of the event can be got at tagcamp.org. Came to learn a lot about usability. Met lot of interesting people. Saw cool new products and concepts i.e Riya and justStudents particularly struck my cord. Also mobido and kaboodle. Was also able to meet folks from cool companies like Ning, zvents and simplyHired.

A sesion on the bizModels regarding tagging and Web2.0 has been put up by Mike Arrington from TechCrunch. The debate started off after I asked Jeff 'why' should Yahoo make money off the ads from my pics!!! Shouldn't I get some cut out of it?? Then Dave and Keith sparked a debate on ads, blogs and money. Was pretty cool to sit down and to hear it. You can listen to the podcast make by Mike.

Just posting some interesting pics taken by me:

Art of Taggin :-)

Down to biz at TagCamp

Product launches at TagCamp

Mike taking the Podcast

Dave Winer

Jeff

Mike bloggin I think!

Me taking notes => on the debate that ensued! ;-0

Fun at tagCamp => building the TagCity

Discussions - day two

clash of media - podcast/blogging (iPod) vs newspaper! :-)

A flickr moment - lensbaby very cool lens

All in all a nice time spent before I go back to India. Just quit job. Had a chance to network with people to get job. But rest assured I am not going to miss the action. Podcast, blogging and video casting will keep me updated. I just can't work things out 'live'!!

flickr books!

2005-10-31T05:19:00.000-08:00

check this out:

Networking pocketbook:

Varnam book (Indian carnatic music book)

They have been flickred. I know I might be violating some copyright
regulations. But I am doing it for my use => as I am moving back to
India and I cannot carry all the books I have! But I just thought I
shall experiment it by the reaction by putting it up on flickr!?

What would happen and how would companies/author react if everybody
starts doing this??

Personally - it helps me get an idea of the book and I shall go and
read it by BUYING the book rather than downloading the book from
Flickr. Its not that I am scanning the book at Hi - res for it to be
printed later.

and

I also just started a new flickr group for this concept - asking
people to think about it and contribute similarly in Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/fbooks/

Just experimenting with the concept => drop your thoughts in the
flickr group {mail me for an invite - the group is invite only! I
don't want to get into lot of trouble :-) } or at my blog here!!

cheers,
+Vinu
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vinu
somtimes hungry but always foolish... :-0

Flickr: chrisheuer

2005-10-30T01:07:00.000-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/people/chrisheuer/

"I am a snowboarder, a boyfriend, an idea guy, a friend, a reader, a wine lover, a sometime yogi, a writer, a photographer, a screenwriter, an entrepreneur and so much more - a good friend once said, 'you are the only person I have known who brings your entire self into all you do' - an indescribable force for good in the world - I love life and the human experience - I believe that change for the better is not only possible, but inevitable - there is no box."

I wish I could live like this. This is my motive in a way ... lets see how long I am able to sustain thi. hats off man - for these wonderful, creative and honest words.

the advent of the social Media

2005-10-28T17:52:00.000-07:00

I read this cartoon in the The Newyorker while I was waiting outside my doctors' clinic. And this made me smile!!

This is the future - very simplistically put! The world of the couch potatoes is gone! the 'iWeb' is here - 'i' being the interactive web. Call it what you want social web, collective intelligence blah blah ... but the two main factors that make this a big threat to all the media industires and the distribution channels are : community and choice! Accessing info when you want it, how you want (something I have already I have mentioned).

Media on the go!! - a Media by the people, for the people. And open and interactive web (includes wireless also!).

I call it the ' gen Z ' (Z stands for Zen). Its just a matter of time for the 'Blink' to occur. We have achieved critcal mass and the 'Tipping Point' is here, right now ....

I have 10 articles planned to write. I shall touch about ' gen Z ' after that!!

make the switch!!!

2005-10-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

Well - the verdict is here. I am doing too many things with too little. My mac mini (512MB, 1.42 Mhz G4 80GB with wireless 802.11g and bluetooth) with my external - DVD writer and 320GB harddisk. These with my 'logitech' webcam, wireless elite duo (keyboard and mouse) and 'iogear' bluetooth headset (for chat - skpye and yahoo) make my life really simple.

I highly recommend it. Though I push it to the extreme - video editing, graphix and even coding and remote desktop, VNC, SSH, Apache. These diverse use make it really rock. I don't have to press the ctrl+alt+del shit often. Though I may have to do a 'force quit' or 'kill' from the 'terminal'. But never do a real hard boot.

And all these for $570 (student discount ;-0 ), I am sure there is nothin more cheaper on the earth, does these job efficiently AND which fits inside a CASE of two CD cases. Moreover, I feel really happy when people come over and ask what is that?? It so coool :D and I say - hey thats my computer ... "Mac Mini"

spelling on flickr!

2005-10-20T03:41:00.000-07:00

You can obtain this for your 'name' using "spell with flickr"

Bookmarklets !!!

2005-10-19T18:25:00.000-07:00

Found two new bookmarklets, thanks to Jono.

GmailThis: This is a nice bookmarklet that helps you to mail the current URL you are reading through gmail. Try it out.

BlogThis: helps you blog easily without having to enter blogger in a complex way!

Also there are bookmarklets for bloglines and del.icio.us.

Talking about Hacks - check out the RSS hacks. Will be really useful hacks if you know about RSS.

Make my life easy atleast!!

Its all about TV! stupid ...

2005-10-18T02:10:00.000-07:00

As I said in a couple of posts earlier - i am finally squeezing in time and writing the article. I seriously wish i had more time to write the article. I find myself in a position where I have too many thoughts but very few time to blog them. But its at point where if I don't write it down - it will just be a thought.

I heard the statement "Its all about the TV" from this podcast in which Om Malik talks about how TV over the net is going to be the 'killer app' be it wired or wireless. He also follows it up with a article in his blog on 'IPTV vs TV'. Its very interesting to note how he ends the article :

The impact of Bit Torrent, RSS, and Networked Video Recorders will be covered in the part 2 and 3 of this series, which will also look into Google TV, Yahoo's media efforts and why really the networks should not be fearful of peer 2 peer networks.

In the podcast he mentions - Internet TV is going to be big in Asia rather than in US as in US there is already a good infrastructure for TV. I am very skeptical about that concept as we human beings consume media like crazy and with the rate at which new products and services are coming - the hungry or the need is always going to be there. Its going to be really cool to see what the future beholds.

The next day, Apple announces an iPod which plays video ( I am going to buy it! and it will be my 4th iPod though I currently own none! easily disposed thanks to craigslist). Though video on iPod as such is nothin new - see the iPodLinux Project. People were able to play video with old iPods in b&w. What was more dramatic was the 'act III' by Steve Jobs. The iTunes 6.0. Its all about the integration and bringing 'video on the go' to the forefront. The Times has an article on that - a must read.

More than TV shows and movies on the go. Its going to be 'original' or 'personal' content thats going to take precedence (apart from Porn though! which is topic of my next article). People are going to bring their handycams from the closet more often. They are going to take ownership of the video content and feel proud. RSS + Video are going to be common. Thats how people are going to share videos. Imagine my parents (in India) seeing my video taken here in the US. And yeah, also the other way round from India to US. Its like 'portal' or 'warped space'. If I am getting daily feeds from 'home' I am not going to miss home as much as I do now. In fact, i currently derive the same amount of happiness looking at snaps in India or Bombay on Flickr group pools.

And yes - there are going to be sites like MP3.com - which host files from independent artists. Even WIRED magazine talked about 'Reinventing Television'. Then there is Google which is also trying to get into TV shows. And yes, Yahoo is also in it - with the podcast launch.

Microsoft is following the trend by reaching into the living room with the X-Box 360. And now Apple with the Front row - a Windows Media centre version of mac OsX in Tiger.

In short, TV on the internet is the 'BUZZ WORD' and yes, its going mainstream for sure. 'Your media' will soon be the focus. Video when you want it and how you want it - thats how the companies are going to position themselves. Downloading and waiting for 10 to 20 mins may be pain in the ass! But yeah - the concept of downloading it before hand and then seeing it anywhere, anytime is cool and it will stick soon. Especially when it comes cheap or practically where.

The following is list of good links that the reader may follow:
1. Nerd TV
2. Veoh Networks - p2p casting network
3. DTV - internet TV on your mac
4. Mobile video Deluge
5. Blog on 'Vision' for the future

what do u think?

2005-10-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

I just read this article by Cringley - the guy who organizes Nerd TV (pretty cool show btw - get to learn a lot about history and future of computing first hand)
Previous episode - 006 - the interview with Dave Winer was cool (get transcript here). BTW Winer lives in Berkeley! Just to quote from his webpage =>

I was interviewed yesterday by Mike Vizard and Steve Gillmor (mostly Mike) in a show that's to be aired on Sirius satellite radio, channel 103 at 5PM Pacific. Could someone get me an MP3. Now I'm becoming famous for predicting the demise of the iPod just as it's reaching new peaks -- tune into this one because I predict that it's too late for Microsoft to get RSS, that the train has left the station before they even got on board. I stand by what I said, the only way it makes a difference for MS is if they magically come up with time-travel, and go back to 2001 and put RSS into Windows XP. Heh. Sorry. This show is worth grabbing if only because when asked if I ever expected RSS to achieve all it has, I said Yes I did. Oooops. In the NerdTV interview I said No I didn't. Better not run against Karl Rove anytime soon, eh?

Coming back to the article by Cringley, after initially talking about video iPod. Cringley goes on to talk about Adwords - Nash Eq and Taguchi optimization. Seems veryinteresting ... I will have to read it again and do some thingking and researching - What is Nash equilibrium and Taguchi Optimization ? I believe somewhere here lies the future business model of Web 2.0! The main point everyone has been thinking for some time now!

Would like to hear your thoughts on this. Or may be spur a discussion on this??

its going to be twice a week!

2005-10-14T01:15:00.000-07:00

Yup, finally after lot of thought. I have decided to enforce a discipline.

I am going to blog only two times a week! And possibly plan on cutting down i.e consolidate on some RSS feeds and re-reorganize them!!
One can always check what I am planning on blogging at any moment by going to this del.icio.us link - http://del.icio.us/vranganathan/2Blog

After clicking the link - you can see related tags, higher the number on bookmarks=> more likely I am going to Blog on that topic.

Read an news article which says Yahoo is offering stanford students free music!! yikes! i am very jealous. What about us poor students from the public university near the city up north?. Common yahoo even just started their new Research centre in Berkeley.

I need more time! at least 28hrs a day!!

2005-10-13T03:28:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have to blog sooo much but I don't seem to have time!

With 189 RSS feeds and counting and reading ... I feel saturated. I am going through a phase where I am really interested in tech news and want to hear things as they come and read and make projections about the future.

I look at patterns in things and also try to intuitively guess the future. I love doing it. I plan to catch up over the weekend - I am going to have atleast three posts over the weekend. I have decided their titles also and here they are:

1. "Its all about the TV. Stupid!"
2. "Honey! I have shrunk PORN ..."
3. "gen Z (zen) ... the next interactive FOURTH ESTATE"

so, watch for this space ... that is if anyone is reading. And you can always get an idea of what is cooking up in my mind by looking at a del.icio.us link where I store the 2Blog links i.e webpages, mp3 or videos.

Peter Forret's Web 2.0 Overview

2005-10-12T12:13:00.000-07:00

Peter Forret's Web 2.0 Overview
Originally uploaded by Dion Hinchcliffe.

I think this is a very good attempt in describing the over all model. Also do check out the rest of his pics on flickr by clicking on the photo.

on the road ... literally

2005-10-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

Ta2tHeEr Al9yAaM
Originally uploaded by Ad - CaSaNoVa.

I am very sure - this guy must be loving it! :-)Is this where the world is coming to - talking about convergence, mobility blah blah ?? I certainly don't feel comfortable with this photo!

101s and my new del.icio.us !!!

2005-10-11T03:13:00.000-07:00

Finally I decided to take a moment and make my life simpler. I made a del.icio.us a/c and and I encourage whoever is reading this post to stop -> go make one and come back here. Its really worth it. My links on delicious can be accessed here.

Also you can check up my 101 page - introduction regarding any technology here. Right now its has links on podcasting and rss. check it out. I will be adding to the links there slowly. More importantly, you can subscribe to them using RSS feeds.

I just read this Great post, explains beautifully in a page about blogging, RSS and tagging. How intricately they are tied together.

And Cnet just gave a listing of the Top 100 blog sites. I am yet to check them out.

And yeah - if anyone is in the PaloAlto Area - I need company for TAGCAMP 2005. Spread the word. Also do register there at the website. I think its going to be cool and nice place to meet interesting people and camp 'in' with them for the night!

back from my DC trip ...

2005-10-11T01:29:00.000-07:00

I got three solid days where I was almost 'unplugged' from the net. Caught up with my relatives and also spent decent amount of reading and sleeping. Check out my photos DC trip set on Flickr (hope to see some comments).

Got back and just checked a bit of Bloglines. Its really cool to see that Yahoo has taken podcasting - mainstream. This has defnitely brought podcasting to another platform. People will start using it. Now along with flickr - Yahoo is defintiely going to the online world by storm. The start page on Yahoo for podacasting is a nice podcast 101 (introduction). They answer a lot of vital questions and FAQs. Job nicely done I would say.

Google came up with the following releases - (1) a AJAX based online RSS reader (seems to be okay). I am going to be using bloglines for sometime now for sure.Also it has started the bookmarking facility in the search history page.

Also there is a big 'mystery' with everyone taking their bets on what Apple is going to release on Wednesday. Anybody ready to believe that apple is releasing the video iPod?? I think its going to be cheaper affordable iPods, new iTunes release and better Macs. video iPods - will be released in March or May when the nano saturates. However lets see ...

A big article is cooking up on my mind right now. I am going to write it in another day or two. But let me just give you a heads up with a small diagram I drew. clues can be found in the picture. The people's Fourth Estate.

Main intent of this blog

2005-10-06T10:12:00.000-07:00

In the first post of this blog I started off telling someitme soon I shall write about what or why I am writing this blog.

As you might have already guessed. This is more of 'Tech Talk' kind of blog. After I started using Bloglines for reading RSS feeds ( I initially started with Live Feeds in FireFox ). The amount of information I consume is amazing. Even though Bloglines has a 'clip' blogs feature - I realized I never go back to those sites. Just to inform, of late I have also been using Pluck ( have been lazy to use del.icio.us ) to syncronize my bookmarks across all my computers (they have a firefox and IE plugins) I use currently. So, I save the good pages and hope to read them and blog them.

But there are times when you have your own views after reading so many pages a day. That number is constantly increasing. I am subscribed to 179 feeds right now!! All of them through bloglines and none podcast links. So, this is where I am going to dump my ideas.

Another purpose - is also to share cool news and amazing sites with others and also you for reference myself. I saw myself mailing people about cool sites - but instead documenting them would be really nice. I shall also be using to document things I learn from podcasts here. This site will also see some mac links - good tips and software. I have a mac mini and I simply love it (of course, everything has its pros and cons).

And yeah - not to say I shall be doing all this when I have time and I am enthusiastic. Lets see how long the gas lasts. But one thing is definitely sure:

I AM READY to PAY to some service which can learn from the sites I click and filter the links and feeds I am subscribing to. Talk about information overload. Now I am so sure - I will never get bored in life. This is 'THE RISING' of the real web. The evolving brain that depends on itself for its growth. A self-sustaining one.

I also have started 3 more blogs that serve different purpose:
- Just being Myself
- Fluid Frame (a photo blog - pics from flickr)
- Vinupod ( my own archimedes 'moments')

Will give link to the specific blogpost of the purpose once I get down to writing there.

P2P + RSS and P2P RSS - the next gear

2005-10-04T01:14:00.000-07:00

I think most of agree (atleast the ones who are following Web 2.0 evolution) that RSS and P2P (esp Bit Torrents) are really cool technology and the future will be them for sure. Once someone comes with a killer business model ( I have one cooking in my mind - watch out for it over here ' vinupod ' you never know ;-0 ) - thats the next level of information age, whether it is on-demand TV or interactive media (podcasting, video casting blah blah blah ...) or the internet itself.

I read this article Peer-to-Peer RSS Delivery Service Debuts in the blog Micro Persuasion by Steve Ruebel.

In this he mentions about a new service where RSS is delivered using P2P model. A new company Feed Tree - aims at providing RSS and Atom feeds in a collaborative way so that you can get data fast! Currently I think these folks are looking at news sites and feeds. However, Lets build this concept further.

Now this is something really fascinating on the lines of Skype (something very clever indeed). What Skype did was send voice packets using its user base. Basically using the network effect - that is what the Bit Torrent technology needs.

So, the next logical extension using what I have mentioned is have your podcasting streams and videocasting streams follow a similar model. In this way the broadcaster doesn't really have to pay the price of bandwidth and users get what they want really fast and easily.

Steve does raise a valid point - what about security and viruses? Could encryption be the answer? Initially thinking - the answer seems to be yes. But I think there should be a clever solution. Encryption may be needed where there is something important i.e privacy kind of things e.g coporate matters. But people mostly don't mind loosing privacy in these matters - it can be seen in the succes of social bookmarking del.icio.us . And of course - say the user is subscribing to a porn site or something ( by the way 60% of Bit Torrent traffic is porn and 30% of internet traffic is Bit Torrent technology) can choose to download directly from the main site if he wants piracy.

So, in my belief - the whole system of RSS and P2P works on trust and social networking. We can just have checks in between. Checks may be scanning for virus data or encryption. But this is definitely the future. RSS and P2P are symbiotic in nature and the day they start to depend to one another to the core - we will see a change ... a dramatic change.

okay time to sleep .. sayonora :-)

Top then web usability mistakes

2005-10-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a neat list compiled by Jakob Nielsen on the top ten web usability mistake.

Check out his main site too. I heard about him and the site from a podcast - Podtech. The podcast is made of series where he brings people from Silicon Valley for interviews. I recommend this strongly as a podcast stream. :-)

Web 2.0 Mashup Matrix

2005-10-03T10:36:00.000-07:00

The Web 2.0 Mashup Matrix - is really cool thing.

I am very sure - soon they would have to go 3D to give better sites.

For those who are really curious on what Web2.0 thing actually is - simple answer:
NOBODY is exactly sure. Its a evolving answer and the answer depends on who is telling is from what point of view.

Here are some articles that will point you if your curious mind is not able to wait for the time I come up with a post & time.
The list is:

1. Web 2.0 Meme Map
2. My friend Jono's blog on Web 2.0
3. O'Reilly's Developer blog - this provides a different view.
4. Om Mallik's blog - Web 2.0 Take two. Check out his previous article too.

In case your too lazy - then read this quote taken from O'Reilly Radar:

Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0 applications are those that make the most of the intrinsic advantages of that platform: delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets better the more people use it, consuming and remixing data from multiple sources, including individual users, while providing their own data and services in a form that allows remixing by others, creating network effects through an "architecture of participation," and going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences.

I think if you have read the things I have pointed to in this page. You should have a vague idea of what I am talking.

Also check out the Web 2.0 Conference to be held this week. Too bad I can't go!

Else don't worry - you can wait for my article ;-) :-) ... have a goo day folks!

writing from writely

2005-10-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

This is where the latest Web 2.0 (I am consolidating to write a nice blog on that) framework will definitely landup.

Trying to write this post from Writely. Its a AJAX (asynchronus javascript and XML - thats the full form . PS: whatever that means .. :-) )based word processing software. Has a Word like interface - but its within the browser and hence its so cool!! Try it out - i am trying to blog this post from site itself where I am writing.

This the future - browser based OS.

Google total

2005-10-02T02:00:00.000-07:00

I got this link from Digg - you can access google with just two boxes. I really love the interface. Though not much of a difference. Its even more simpler!!
Google total - written by Anil. I his blog he alsohas a recent blog in which he gives a hack for having groups in gmail address. very easy - I should have found this own my own! damn...

more to come tomorrow.

The Whack Factor

2005-09-29T01:36:00.000-07:00

I just listened to this podcast - an interview with Motorola's CEO Ed Zander.

I got the link from the ZDNet podcats where he talks about leadership. This is the interview where when asked about the iPod Nano he says 'screw the nano'. :-)

(Of late I have been listening to many podacasts - more of the business kind. Plan to write a podcast on that too)

Leaving that apart, I liked listening to the entire podcast. Leant a lot of things. He ends the interview telling about the whack factor by which he means in this age they have to watch out for competition - else even a $12 billion dollar company like Motorola can get kicked out.

He also mentions in the interview - the two main points that differentiates a leader from a manager are:
a. whether you have a succesor or can coach someone
b. you have a vision (and I guess can communicate the vision to your team and motivate them)

I concur on those two points.

Will write on what and how I am using using Podcast. Meanwhile you can get know a bit from Wikipedia.

Vertical Search

2005-09-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

In Wikipedia has a nice article and also explains what 'vertical search' is:

The web produces new and exciting ways of accessing information and has since produced several specialist websites known as vertical search engines. Unlike traditional search engines like Google, these tend to specialize in one area, for example Totaljobs, whose search engine would only return information about job openings. One website that has gone a step further is Yumgo. Yumgo is what the future may be when it comes to accessing infomation as it enables users to group together all their various vertical search engines' preferences onto on page. This means it is possible to have Wikipedia, alongside other verticals like, IMBD, Yahoo, and Ebay.

I also recently heard a podcast at www.podtech.net in this particular episode where she talks about a start up in vertical search.

Examples of vertical searches:
1. Job search site that I came across is SimplyHired. It is really cool. Agregates job from each place. Also I think does a mash-up with google maps. very cool uh?? Read this article in ZDNet about the site.

2. Om Mallik mentions about real estate vertical serach called trulia

The concept of Google Maps Mash-ups is really cool. And Even Microsoft has made a open API for its virtual earth which is also pretty good. I shall talk about them next blog. Then these will lead to then to a blog about Web 2.0.

Hope this article didn't have tooo many jargons. But guess what this is the latest technolgy.

Bug Me Not

2005-09-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

Check this article out at eHow.com. It talks about a site called BugMeNot.com which can be used not to register in sites you just need to access once in a life time kind of thing e.g certain articles in newspaper sites or something.

It creates a username and password and viola!! you get access immediately!

THE END

2005-09-26T22:28:00.000-07:00

Cygnoir's blog post is very cool in a way that she has closed her blog when I am begining.

Quoting her just in case she closes that link

It's been nearly seven years since I began this journey, this meandering of bits and bytes. Sometimes I knew where I was headed, and sometimes I didn't, but I always knew I'd get somewhere.

And here we are at somewhere: the end of this journal. Here I am, and I don't want to walk this path anymore. I don't want to describe the interior landscape in such excruciating detail. I don't want to ping the masses instead of confiding in friends. I don't want to worry about whether or not what I share here will be read. I don't want to live my life through a lens of what I'll write about it later.

I just want to live my life.

Thank you to those of you who have shown me kindness. And to those of you who have shown me the opposite of kindness, thank you too. I learned more from you than I cared to admit.

Be good to each other and to yourselves.

My next post will be talking about the purpose of this blog ... coming soon.

How to Build a computer

2005-09-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

Well I have been reaserching and also wondering what type of computer to build for sometime. Found this link from heaton research - pretty cool.

Now this raises a point why would I want another computer - a desktop that too?? I already have a Mac mini - that I am very happy about. I have a office laptop and I also great. But then why a windows desktop? So, here are the facts:

1. I want to do video and photo editing and so I need a fast machine.
2. Mac does suck sometimes - check this nice article by Russell
3. I do miss windows - most of the latest free apps come on windows and I can't try them on my mac or office laptop.
4. Also plethora of p2p software.

The configuration I am looking at:

AMD 64 bit, 256 MB video card, 160GB HDD and dual monitor support and ability to have upto 8GB Ram on the motherboard.

I am saving money for that! Can anyone convince me not to have that beast? I may end up pouring a $1k on that including the 19 inch LCD Monitor. Waiting desperately for Thanksgiving.

mystery of the title??

2005-09-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

I just started work and am using 'Ant' - a java based program to compile and build java programs and lot of my unix commands are similar and hence I thought this would be apt - as I am rebuilding life ...

will be bloggin more regularly now! do come back.