Corporate Spices

From Spices to Quirks...

2006-11-30T07:41:00.000-08:00

Folks,

Corporate Spices has seen quite a few visitors here at Blogger. But then we always want more...

Keeping in mind my varied interests and my insanely infrequent posting habits I have decided to rid Blogger of my troublesome anti-blog-social behavior and move to my own domain. I decided to merge all my online identities under my real one, and Voila! we now have: 42 Quirks All the current posts, comments have been imported and collected at the new address. I will stop answering comments to this blog from tonight 0000 hrs IST (0630 GMT). May be I will delete the blog... Maybe I won't...

Thanks for all your support and the great conversations we've had until now. I hope we will continue them on 42 Quirks in the future...

You are cordially invited to visit my new home at 42 Quirks. Update your bookmarks, (in case you did have one [:D] )

See you there!!

Search Engine Redundancy: The Final Countdown

2006-09-05T06:37:00.000-07:00

Until now, the process of consuming content was of a very primitive type - Search and consume. We searched for information using certain keywords and then converted it manually to knowledge. If we wanted to access the information at a later date, we simply printed it out. If we wanted to re-search it (pun unintended) we searched it again! There was no way of storing or retrieving this data for later usage.

Enter del.icio.us, one of the first social applications.

All of a sudden, you could bookmark pages you liked AND store them too! Searching for that page on Shark bites you saw two months ago simply transformed into searching through your list of bookmarks. Your bookmarks could now travel with you wherever you went!! The sharing feature meant that now your friend could easily send you that link to the direct downloads, bypassing all the popups and ads along the way. ;-)

The process of consuming information now became three-tiered: Search, Store and Retrieve.

Somewhere between then and now, we instinctively developed a habit of consuming content, gaining knowledge, and stashing it away for further usage. A lot of Web purists call this approach as the River of News approach.

Drink hard, drink deep...

We live in a dynamic world that survives on a River of News.

The River of News concept, as described by Dave Winer, goes something like this:

Instead of having to hunt for new stories by clicking on the titles of feeds, you just view the page of new stuff and scroll through it. It's like sitting on the bank of a river, watching the boats go by. If you miss one, no big deal.

... which is exactly how we parse our daily newspapers for news! If a story is interesting enough, it will be back again the next day. If it ain't, down it goes...

The River of News concept assumes a relaxed outlook towards the consumption of content by any user. It relies on the fact that if an older item is to be revived, then it will be revived, no matter how or why*.

The only hitch to this concept is the duration of focus in an avergae human. Somehow, the concept of a limited attention span has seeped on to the Web. Conversations (a.k.a posts, articles, etc.) have a specific life span depending upon a variety of factors, ranging from authority to popularity. The previous post touched upon four of these factors that I personally belive to be important.

As the river of news concept washes the Webosphere, the content generated by users (erm, I mean, the knowledge shared by the netizens) becomes outdated as soon as the attention-span of the article ends. For some posts, the span is as short as 30 seconds, for others it might last for weeks.** The keep-alive time of the post is enriched by a variety of parameters, with the element of chance also playing a significant role, sometimes.

The Bottom-line: Find, not search

Traditional Search Engines search for content based upon classifications of keywords and various natively built algorithms. Earlier, when the internet was an array of 'webmaster-maintained' static displays, search engines had to be relevant. In the days to come, I foresee the River of News flooding the Blogosphere: Freshness of results will definitely be paramount, then.

The trade-off between freshness and relevancy is one of the factors that will see a good sound debate in the days to come. This, unless the Blogging trend tapers off suddenly instead of continuing to rise.***

One question I have purposefully (and successfully) avoided so far is this: Will we be able to match people to keywords?

A search engine will match content to your keywords. But there are three Shrikant Joshis and many Shrikants and many more Joshis who are regular bloggers. How do you differentiate them? Again, what happens when you are looking for a solution to a problem? Would search engines in the (near?) future also throw up results like:

"5 user(s) can solve your problem! Do you want to hire them?"

More importantly, if they did, would you believe them?

Footnotes:

*One of my reasons for posting this post so late (inspite of my previous assurances) was to check if there was any interest I could generate, and how it varied with time. However, I miscalculated one of the most important aspects. Subscriptions. Since I never had any audience to begin with, there was no way I could anticipate anything. That's called counting your results before you have keywords. :)

** Wondering what category my posts fall into? Well, somewhere close to the 30 second limit.

***For more details read David Sifry of Technorati

Technorati Tags: Search Engines, Tags, River of News, Future

Part II - Why Search Engines will be redundant soon...

2006-08-21T06:03:00.000-07:00

Part II - I Seek You, and your meta-data, too...

The story until now: Part I was a quick review into understanding Traditional Search Engines and their methods and relating them to human conversation - since the Web 2.0 is all about 'conversations in the marketplace'. On to the second part.

What does making sense out of data mean?

In Search Engine terms, it would refer to contextualizing the huge chunk of uncontextual data that is the World Wide Web into information and eventually knowledge. To me, as a human, it simply means tagging certain keywords to any given chunk of data (e.g. a lecture, a passage, a book, a chapter, a conversation) in order to be able to recall it at any time - especially, when one of these keywords is mentioned. For instance, the conversation in the previous post was about a traveller, (an out-of-towner) looking for directions to a tobbacconist. As I keep reminding myself, Web 2.0 is not a product, it is a process. The process has a lot of conversational threads that keep getting picked and dropped as newer and more interesting threads or new participants appear in their place. So what would a contemporary Search engine have to consider in Web 2.0?

'Weight'ing for Information.

From being a static display of items-for-sale behind elegant window panes, the Internet slowly transformed into a bazaar of sorts, with hawkers all around the place plying their wares. The markets grew to accomodate the new and the old. With the advent of Web 2.0, contextualization of information became the norm and not an option. It all began with a nifty bookmarking site called del.icio.us that allowed you to access your favorite sites across the web. Technorati extended the concept to Blogs and induced bloggers to 'tag' their posts with their choice of keywords/tags. With the Web evolving like a democracy, the obvious question of authority in the Web-democracy arose. Which voice among the loud babble was to be trusted? As the web evolved, so did the concept of it's franchise. Only, in this virtual reality, links were deemed votes and tags were your campaign ads. Let's take a quick look at the foru weights that influence your vote.

Tags - Powerful Keywords

Each tag is a keyword that associates a particular context, a topic, with a given chunk of data.

Time - The 'other' Long Tail

All topics & data have a peak presence time. The freshness of a particular keyword is of prime importance in its influence. Consider this simple example: When Iraq was attacked, almost all of the Search Engines across the world were buzzing with Search queries consisting of corresponding keywords, viz., "Iraq" "attack". The "hotness" of the Search cooled down as the days progressed, as the world got other topics to discuss about.

Trust & Authority

Even in flat hierarchies like the Internet there are obvious postitions of Trust and Authority. People who blog well, and blog often gain a large following, and effectively, the crucial element of Trust.

Authenticity

A news on a Microsoft blog would obviously be rated higher in all terms than a news quoting a "trusted Source at Microsoft". The only exceptions to this rule are:

The news is a really good bit of juicy gossip - like a rant or a 'leaked' secret
The blogger has high levels of Trust & Authority

There's a common thread that binds all of these.. Do you see it yet? (To be concluded) Note: I profusely apologise for disappearing from the Blogging scene, all of a sudden. I was forced into a short hiatus by unforeseen circumstances. We updated our website platform to a new version, recently. although the beta is pretty stable, we are still working on a better UI. As a result, I had to spend some sleepless nights and a few Blog-less weeks. ;) Once again, my sincere apologies for the same... Technorati Tags: search, search-engine, tags, web2.0

Why Search Engines will be redundant soon...

2006-08-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

Part 1: Search and the Web 1.0: Gorblimey! Those of you who reached here through Google, Yahoo or MSN are probably laughing as you read this. But do go on, there's more. :-) (Un)common Recurring Searches Often our searches are simple keywords crafted with central themes in mind:

A name (e.g. Shrikant Joshi or Performancing)
A topic (e.g. Corporate Communications)
A context (e.g. "Spanish Omelette" +recipe)

Some of us might even burden the spartan box (or in the old days, the Butler) with an entire question. The faithful zombie then crawls its way through the innards of the webs, looking for that occasional diamond stashed away in the back alleys. Usually, in the common cases such as the ones defined above, results are returned in the correct context of our request. Often, the SERPs also throw results that are related yet not within context. Robert Scoble's post on Optimization had this line that caught my attention:

It all starts with the blog. Now, why can’t I put my blog on the map? When you go to Live.com and search on “Scoble” why can’t I customize my results there with more information for you?

Well, I don't agree wholly. Search for my name on Google. There are at least three different people called Shrikant Joshi who turn up in the top 3. We keep exchanging the first three ranks. And all of us are pretty active bloggers it would seem. The see-sawing of rankings in the Organic Search results is not a matter of concern for me. Nor do I want to customise these search results so that I would get more result-space. I am not a key-word What are search engines? Simply speaking, search engines are content-aggregators assigned the additional job of classification. As humans we need to have everything classified into a taxonomy so as to facilitate recollection. Our knowledge depends upon storage which in turn depends upon collection and classification of data. Classification helps recollection and hence improves perceptive retention of knowledge. Or, in simple words: The more you know, the wiser you are. Hence, classify and remember. Similar to how we retain knowledge, Search Engines classify the data they crawl according to keywords. A huge index is built up and referenced and cross-referenced until all the possible avenues of keywords linking to pages and vice-versa are covered. But you probably know all that and more already. Keywords, mmmm... Aah! The next step would be making sense out of the data, which eventually leads to contextualization. Don't get it? Well, simply put: "A search engine's job is to make sense out of all that data." Let's take a simple case. Someone in your town happens to own a convenience store named Uncle Tom's Cabin. Let us imagine that an outsider in your city is searching for it. Here's how the conversation would go: Outsider: "Where can I find a convenience store?" You: "That would have to be Uncle Tom's cabin. Go straight down for about two blocks and then take a left. It's right across the street." Outsider: "Would I be likely to get some cigarettes there?" You: "Oh! If you simply wants cigarettes, there a tobacconist just round the corner!" A normal conversation, eh? Well, let's take a look at it again. Only this time, we'll look at it the way a search engine would. Let's insert some key words into it for understanding the flow of the conversation: 1. "Where can I find a convenience store?" [New Search Query, keyword: "convenience store"] 2. "That would have to be Uncle Tom's cabin. Go straight down for about two blocks and then take a left. It's right across the street." [Response keywords:"Uncle Tom's cabin", "directions"] 3. "Would I be likely to get some cigarettes there?" [Refine Search Query, keyword: "cigarettes"] 4. "Oh! If you simply wants cigarettes, there a tobacconist just round the corner!" [Response keywords: "Tobacconist","Round the corner"] With me so far? Here's the stumper: If each of these sentences corresponded to an entire blog-post in the Blogosphere, how would you track this conversation? How would you rank each post with respect to the keywords. Would those keywords be enough to cover all aspects of the conversation? Would you call those keywords as appropriate descriptors of the conversation? Where would these posts appear in SERPs for the combined keywords {"Your Name" +directions} To be continued... Disclaimer: I am no Search Engine Expert. These opinions are simply my $0.02 worth. Or may be less. :) Technorati Tags: search engine, optimization, keywords, web2.0, content, context

Netscape.com says, "Hi to all Diggers!"

2006-07-26T04:04:00.000-07:00

Surprised? Well, read on... Early this morning, someone submitted a story on Netscape.com. And Digg fans all over the world erupted in laughter and glee. Ever since the story was submitted, this is what appears, when Netscape is loaded into your browser: The first is a four word expletive, and the second greets "all you Diggers out there!" The culprit? A story titled "Unbearable Cuteness". Ironical,eh? Here's the what and why of the entire fiasco. Analysis: A quick check of the JavaScript on the page reveals this script:

via <a title="http://www.cute.com"><script>alert("fuck"); alert("Hi to all you Diggers out there ;)");



'GTraffic' is here. Well, almost...
2006-07-25T06:35:00.000-07:00
I am pretty sure the guys at Google must be sneakily reading my blog. Remember this?
Google has rolled out a special version of Google Maps for your mobile phone (via Google Blog). Well, well, well...

So is it really true, then? Is Google silently creating a presence in all possible verticals? How long will it be before they integrate all things under one roof?

I am still wondering...

Technorati Tags: google, feature, promotion

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One World (Wide Web). One Identity?
2006-07-21T05:56:00.000-07:00
How many times have you had people sending you invitational eMails saying, "Try this cool site I found!" or "This is an amazing site!" or "You'll absolutely love this one!" or lines to that effect?

Too many, I suspect.

Web 2.0 and the concept of User Generated Content has had the world in a tizzy for quite a while now. Innovative ideas and domain name registrations seem to go hand in hand. The people riding the waves of the Internet never had it so good. New services are introduced every day and competition is building up before you can say, "Watch out!"

As the Internet grows, as the flood of ideas increases, so will the number of identities. The number of services we use though, will continue to remain the same, maybe a few additions here and there.

Why? Because we are all loyalists to the core. We all have a list of our favorite sites that we visit regularly and we rarely visit the competition. There are innumerable excuses for this loyalty ranging from the old 'comfort zone', to the very latest 'swanky look', and the geeky 'amazing feature-set.'

Truth is, we cannot handle multiple identities.

Having multiple identities is similar to owning two or more cell-phones. The greater the number of phones, the greater the interruption. Each cell-phone contributes an identity (in the vaguest sense of the word). Each eMail address is an identity that we have created for ourself on the WWW. Each profile on a social network is an identity that we maintain.

The number of eMails in your inbox is a fair indicator of the number of identities you have on the Web. And those of us, who are actively tracking the development of the collaborative Web, must have emails running into hundreds.

One idea would be to have a single secure identity that will cater to logins all across the internet. If such an idea were ever to gather support, it would have some interesting implications:

Naturally, this would imply a unique database to cater to all our identities across the web. But who should get the right to create and maintain such a database? The huge set of meta-data that would result would be a statistician's dream come true! The flip-side of this is obviously the large 'corporations' that would give a few arms and legs (or even take a few) to get a crack at this data. (Ok, so I am a li'l partial to scientific research...)

What could be better than acquiring this data?

Having the data on your own servers! MyOpenID, Windows LiveID, Google Account Authentication, are a few names in this context. This probably explains why there is an intense competition between the Big Three and a few other key players.

If this sounds fairly Orwellian and reminds you of "1984" and Big Brother, you are probably right. :o)

The virtual world we live in, closely resembles the Orwellian 1984. Recent cases (Digg v/s Netscape, for instance) indicate as much. Search Engines indexing our content have the power to convey them to the faceless 'Thought police.' We have rich-sounding names like User Generated Content and Long Tail. And we have a faceless Big Brother who 'purportedly' keeps everything in check.

Makes you wonder: was Orwell right all along?

Technorati Tags: identity, web, orwell, 1984
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All sanity has 'Left' India...
2006-07-18T00:49:00.000-07:00
Dina Mehta and other Indian Bloggers  are reporting the apparent clampdown of the Indian Government on 12 'radical' websites. Notable among these being Blogger - the popular blog provider for India.

Yes, you read the last one right.

Blogger can no longer be accessed through certain Indian ISPs. The Indian Govt. has painstakingly put together a list of sites, running into twenty-two pages, that must be blocked by all Indian ISPs. Blogger's one of them.

I am speechless. There are so many things, I want to say, but don't know where to start.

Shivam Vij, tried to contact the authorities seeking a clarification about the issue. He was was made to (virtually) run from pillar to post, and ended up with a curt, "What's your problem? Someone must have blocked some site. So?" Typical.

A few national dailies took it up and reported it. Hindustan Times and Indian Express each had a story to tell, but it was more of a report than a story. The Times of India (link not up yet), too had it's own take on the entire affair. Notice the absolutely moderate, even submissive tone of the reports. It is as if they are trying to distance themselves from the entire fiasco.

Ok, I agree, some of the websites in the list might be classified as fanatic to the extreme. There might even be some Bloggers with extreme religious views. But a blanket ban? Why would anybody want to censor this blog? It's stupid.

A few years ago, Yahoo! Groups was blocked because they found a few subversive groups using the tool to convey messages to each other. The same blanket ban was enforced even then.

Even if we assume that the websites are guilty of propagating theories and sentiments detrimental to the national interest. Wouldn't it make much more sense if the owners of these websites were called in for questioning under the same clause? A blanket ban only serves to inconvenience everyone, while helping none.

The dilemma is simple: How far can you stretch the right to express your opinions?

Have the conversations gone a bit too far this time?

Technorati Tags: Blogs, Censorship, Religion
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Markets are *noisy* conversations.
2006-06-27T02:04:00.000-07:00
Strange, isn't it?

All of us hailed the coming of a shareable, collaborative web and 'lovingly' named it Web 2.0. But along with it came announcements and offerings, options and varieties; faster than anything else. So much, that the low murmur of the internet rose to a harsh, loud, incoherent noise. So much, that we are beginning to denounce it like no other.

Hypocrisy? Nope, I think "Familiarity breeds Contempt" is more like it...

Web 2.0 was a concept. Each one of us interpreted the concept and put forth ideas of their own. As a result, there was a rush of ideas and hence a flood of communication. People started 'socializing' on the web. Social networks boomed and people came 'closer'.

IMHO, it all started with the advent of broadband connectivity. Being 'always-on' had a direct implication, that of being connected with all your near and dear ones. Web 2.0 looked upon the internet as one huge community, with local groups of people inhabiting it. This concept was publicized and then, taken too literally. Thus, were born the social networks of today.

The community is a market and markets have alternatives. Working on the same lines, social networks began to sprout, each claiming to offer something different from the other. But, the basic objective of these networks was the same - connecting people and conducting conversations across the globe.

The market analogy gives us yet another insight. Every product has competition. And every competitive product has a seller who is willing to canvass for it. The greater the competition, the larger the canvassing and the noisier the market. In the end the market become a large noisy mass of voices and nothing audible or coherent.

Get the drift?

The web as a marketplace has been inundated with offerings. The noise in the marketplace will remain until the day the sellers give up or the stocks dry up. Since, there is little chance of the latter happening, we will have to wait for the former to happen and pray that it happens sooner, rather than later.

The noise of the eMails and IMs that have been flying back and forth has overwhelmed us to the extent that we now want out. But without them, how would we communicate, let alone converse?

Or, are we wrong in assuming that eMails & IMs are the only methods of communication? What if there IS an alternative?

Will things be different?


Technorati Tags: web2.0, conversation, market, cluetrain 

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Google Doodles
2006-06-15T06:44:00.000-07:00
This post by Doug (a Xoogler) talks about how different people with different visions read differently into one and the same thing. Well, actually he talks about the Google-Dilbert Logo that *almost* caused quite an internal scandal in the Googleplex.

Those of you who have seen it, know what I am talking about. Those who haven't,  follow this link and read this.

Technorati Tags: Xoogler, Google, Dilbert

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Crazy Little Thing called (Google) Love
2006-06-07T06:42:00.000-07:00
People are lapping it up.

Google launched Spreadsheet on Tuesday and it was promptly covered. There's a rumour about Picasa coming as a Web-based version soon. Anything Google releases is a matter of hot contention. It is not a question to ponder whether the interest in the product will be sustained or will die off the very next day itself. As long as it exists in the minds of the people, it will always bring in the hits.

You may call me a Google-basher, if you wish, but it still baffles me why Google should churn out these services at such a high rate. There are so many better things to do! Like, for example, they could actually be fine tuning their Search algorithm or re-inventing it.

Maybe they are already doing it and these things are simply to throw the hounds off the scent. Or maybe, they don't have a clue where they should be headed now. Whichever it is, the big picture is really hard to see right now.

In the last year, since the advent of Gmail, AJAX and Web 2.0, Google has been building up a veritable repository of Apps, sorry, FREE apps for the *public*. What they did not create, they bought. And what they could not buy, they bought the competition and gave it away for free.

Again, the concept of Contextual Text-Ads worked fine, but then other players have now entered the Market and they are slowly eating up into the marketshare. Not that it is going to affect Google's 'economy' much, but yet, it is something Google cannot ignore for long.

Let's take a look at the facts:
Google has built up a large user-base based on one single product - Search.
Google has introduced various offerings into the Webosphere, definitely keeping up with the trends. Yet, there has been no visible innovation seen in the recent times.
Every new Google product or offering has one result assured - Love it or hate it, you can't ignore it.
And lastly, each of the newer Google products is *loosely* integrated with the other ones.Take a look at the last one again. There are no links from any of the Google apps to the others, save for the standard footer (which is ignored most of the time). Except for a few isolated examples (Maps and Calendar in Gmail) there have been very few instances of product integration. Why hasn't Google integrated attachments with Writely and Google Video? Or with Google Base for that matter? Surely, it is not unimaginable? Why are they ignoring/neglecting/forgetting/overlooking/whatever such simple points? Or are they doing it deliberately?

One fine day, if they choose to bring all services (the old ones, the current and the new ones) under one umbrella, then this is what your typical day might look like:

7 AM. Wake up. Ready yourself for your daily work. Breakfast.
8 AM. Check Google Mail. Add client appointment(s) directly into Google Calendar. Check Google Traffic* for driving conditions and consult Google Maps for best route. Drive to Work.
9 AM. Reach Work. Open Gtalk. Your Calendar settings have been imported and all your appointments have been sent automatic reminder mails/notices about your meetings. Check your Gmail. Collaborate on Software Requirement Specifications and make changes with your colleague in Australia and save it immediately.
10 AM. Create a presentation for your Client meet using GPres* along with the same colleague in Australia. Simultaneously tabulate all the requisite data, draw up some quick formulae with the help of your colleague in Europe. Voila! Google Spreadsheet is ready with a cost estimate instantly!
11 PM. Client is online. (Need we mention free WiFi, here?) Hold a webmeeting with your client using Gtalk and conduct a video conference simultaneously. Close the deal and send a link to the already drawn up MoU and NDA along with the cost estimate that you just ruffled up with your colleague in Australia
1 PM. Open Google Search. Look for birthday Gifts for kids under ten years with a special interest in Pokemon. Find appropriate Gift. Pay using GMoney* and get it delivered instantly to your Office.
2 PM. Lunch Break
3 PM. Repeat steps 3 to 5
6 PM. Check your Gmail. Check for Google Calendar reminders/notices. Check Google Traffic* and Google Maps again. Drive home.

(*Coming Soon to a Browser near you. Please submit your eMail address for a special beta preview invite.)

The keen reader may observe that I have touched upon barely a few of the current offerings of Google. I have merely implied the potential what Google could capture with its current offerings. Whay are they holding  back then? Is it to be a surprise attack, a Blitz-Krieg of some kind? If suddenly Google chooses to generate revenue out of all the (currently) free services

Google is building isolated chunk of applications. For us, they seem like unseemly, strange shapes. But they might well turn out to be smaller pieces of a mastermind Jigsaw puzzle. Google could well be on its way to building the only competition to, and yet not compete against Micro$oft.

Confused? Picture this: The Google WebOS and the Google Office.

The world is moving towards the virtual. Google might well stand to gain from this movement. At the same time as Google builds a monopoly on the Web, Microsoft keeps its monopoly on the Desktop. This might sound like a random conspiracy theory, but it is supported by hard facts.

Note that Google has not pushed any independent standards with any of its Applications. Writely supports .doc format as well as other formats. Spreadsheet claims "Familiar desktop feel" and that you can "Upload spreadsheets or worksheets from CSV or XLS format - all your formulas and formatting will come across intact."

Wouldn't a company seeking to remove M$ out of the competition promote other standards so that they could force the users out of the habit?

Consider this: Of late, there have not been any major innovations and releases in Google desktop paraphernelia. Those that are released have a distinct web connotation, for instance, GDS 4. In the other corner. M$ seems to have slowed down its work on the web front. Ray Ozzie and his Live clipboard are being handled by tech enthusiasts, who realize the implications of the tool. But the man himself, (Ray) seems to have faded somewhere into the horizon. The first impression of this is each of them is sticking to known battlegrounds.

And if they continue to do so, is it not a precursor of the things to follow? Is it really a random conspiracy theory, then?

Technorati Tags: google, microsoft, conjecture, theory



WebOS and my conversations
2006-05-02T08:04:00.000-07:00
My last post on WebOSes and the corresponding comments on ZDNet and Performancing resulted in interesting conversations.

Performancing users and authors had very interesting opinions. Dave, for instance, said:
...they could bring down the price of computing massively. All you would need on a desktop is effectively a thin client that handles inputs and outputs, and
connects to the internet.
... while georgemanty was worried about security:

Do I really want a third party to have access to everything on my computer's hard drive???
searchengineblog put it really well with: The problem is that there is no problem to be solved. In 2006, fat clients (read: PCs) aren't expensive - bandwidth is.The security concerns do make a valid point. But I guess, with the way things are moving, third-party storage (read: online storage with desktop synchro) is the thing to watch out for in the near future.

Technology has not only enabled cheaper and communication, but it has also been revamping the field of transportation. As travel becomes cheap, we will find ourselves at different places at different times. And then we will need one central location to store our data. Which is where third-party storage comes in.

One option would be a personal FTP server. Like your hard-disk away from your PC. Again, the only hindrance I see currently is the band-width (in terms of access). Thus it boils down, essentially, to two things:

A radically new, faster method of accessing the internet. Condition: It must support huge amounts of bandwidth so as to enable each one of the 6 billion people whoo will soon be online in the near future.
A safe and secure online storage system. Condition: The privacy concerns of the users must be put to rest. Each such third-party supplier must be liable for any leakage of information (intentional, or otherwise) occurring from their servers.
On ZDNet, 3D0G said:
There are still far to many people out there using computers who have no
clue how computers work and don't want to know. They just want to browse the web and read email. There are also many people who know they know nothing about computers and so don't buy one. Something like this would at least open the internet and email up to themThis would be like saying, we need hand-cranked cars because some old-timers cannot adopt to automatic transmission. Not a very good analogy, I agree, but just because people don't know how to use the net does not mean we step back to thin-clients.

A similar attempt was made (if my memory serves me correctly) with public Internet Access kiosks (at least in India) But it was a huge failure, simply because:
People did not want to make their ignorance of the Internet public. 
The kiosks were not supported by adequate bandwidth. They were too slow.
The thin clients were actually confusing and they allowed only one browser window - no tabs back then.
Around 25% of the screen space was consumed by ads that were run to support the costs of running these kiosks.
I have realized that, the more you attempt to make technology easier for people, the lazier they become. "Give a man fish to eat, he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will never go hungry for the rest of his life." 

If there are any such laymen, we need to teach them how to surf the waves and not try and make things easier for them. Simplicity does not always mean simplifying the product. It could also mean simplifying the process.

Let's face it, the internet is a skill and not a toy. You have to learn it and the more inquisitive can even attempt to master it. Any attempt to simplify things further will only allow the lazy to become lazier. Do we really need WebOSes? The argument of thin-clients and simplification of things seems pretty thin to me...

I mean, is it really that difficult?

(It's a pity that I have to summarize my Blogosphere Conversations here.) 



Web2.0, WebOS, WebOffice, We... Whatever.
2006-04-25T02:34:00.000-07:00
The WebOS Market Review by Richard MacManus delves into the WebOS market, which is currently being played by small-timers like YouOS, eyeOS, XIN, etc. A WebOS is an OS on the Web that allows you to browse, eMail, chat, etc. Basically, the online counterpart of your desktop OS.

Ok. Stop. Let's go back to that last one. Online counterpart of an OS? uhh, erm...

Hmm. Let's try Wikipedia. Wikipedia defines WebOS as:
More generally, WebOS refers to a software platform that interacts with the user
through a web browser and does not depend on any particular local
operating system.
What? Let's go through this one more time, step-by-step:

I boot my desktop OS. I fire my desktop browser. I connect to the World Wide Web. I access the WebOS. I see my WebDesktop. Now what? I fire up my WebBrowser and access the Internet again?

Er, excuse me, but isn't that where I am already? So, which one is my, 'true', definitive OS? The one I booted to fire the (desktop) Browser, or the one that I accessed on the web? Moreover, how would you access such an OS in the future, given this logical inconsistency?

When I put forth this question, AutomanG replied with the following:
One solution would be to have something, say..., linux embedded into a box that's sole purpose is to fire up a browser and initiate a tunnel to a remote server (where your webOS of choice is located.) It would be a borderless browser so to you, it would look just like you booted a computer arriving at a desktop.
This sounds really weird! No offense meant, but I just want to explore this a bit further:

Currently, looking at the larger picture, we have three OSes in the Desktop Market. Windows, Linux and MacOS. With this proposal the intention to make Linux a standard (irrespective of whether all people want it or not). Or Windows or MacOS. Some OS which can be universally accepted and moulded as and when need be. Which inevitably brings us back to Linux.

Agree though, the argument that Automan provides makes some sense on some level. Okay, it doesn't matter what boots the embedded browser as long as what they see on their screens is the same all throughout. Interesting point, I admit.

But again, then there are many options for WebOSes now. There will come a time when we will have to choose one of them as a standard, or maybe, define some standard specs for a WebOS. How do you do that, then?

And if you were to do it later, why not do it now for the desktop OSes? And if you intend to write embedded software to run the necessary hardware, it still is an OS!

I still can't fathom the need for a WebOS. The ability to store data online, more than makes up for the inability to access my personal desktop everywhere. After all the applications that you intend to put on the Web will be run by their desktop counterparts. What is the point?

Ok, I guess, I oughtta stop. I sound almost desparate now!

Technorati Tags: WebOS, ZDNet, OS



Foldera, Google, Marc Orchant and me - Odd man out!
2006-04-19T07:00:00.000-07:00
Over at ZDNet, Marc Orchant has this to say in his article Foldera: Measure twice… cut once:
I applaud this strategy. The more forethought and preparation put into the launch, the better. Marc was talking about the eMail sent out by Foldera CEO Marc Orchant stating that Foldera is postponing its launch, simply because:
"we didn't have the firepower in our datacenter to handle the sort of demand indicated by so many registrations."
I wish to make it known for the record, I haven't received the mail, this snippet has been extracted from the mail extract that Marc posted in the article.

Marc goes on to say that even after the resounding success of Gmail and the early frustrations of Gmail users, Google did not learn. The result was apparent for everyone to see with the initial pull-backs of Reader and Pages.

Some (personal) observations:
Personally, I believe Google did not pull back Pages because of high demand. It was probably due to a bigger glitch, something I have previously blogged about.
Foldera may be stretching the public interest a little too far. Going by the conversation on Mike Arrington's Techcrunch, Foldera should have been launched and here many times over by now.
However, interesting a tool may be, the longer you take to launch, the shorter the buzz post-launch.
At least that's what I think happened with Origami. Of course, Origami was a little early, about three years early, by my guess. In a world where laptops and palm-pilots have not yet become commonplace, introducing a gadget that was a level up in the futuristic scale seemed to me, a crazy idea.

One thing I have realized so far is:

"You can't hurry up or slow down the future. It comes when it comes. You better be prepared for either case."  Probably that's what Foldera is thinking. Or are they?

PS: I have decided to be a little more regular now. Hope to live upto my words...

Technorati Tags: foldera, google, peeves, launch



Firefox 1.5 to Firefox 3.0? Twice the leaks? Twice the bugs?
2006-04-13T05:20:00.000-07:00
A story of Firefox 3 being made available for download was recently dugg.
beltzner says:
...also in order of stability: Firefox 1.5.0.x is rock-solid, Firefox 2...I beg to differ.
Memory issues aside, something needs to be done about the extension integration. I run a Firefox 1.5.0.1 on a PIII 733 Mhz m/c w/ 320 MB RAM and I have faced a queer problem, FF suddenly goes to 100% and then drops off equally sharply on some AJAX pages. Here are the extensions I have on my m/c:
# Extension Version Status Notes
1 DOM Inspector NA Enabled Default with Firefox
2 Talkback NA Enabled Default with Firefox
3 Searchstatus 1.15 Enabled Alexa & A9
4 Greasemonkey 0.6.4 Enabled For UserScripts
5 Restart Firefox 0.3 Enabled One-Click
6 Multi Bookmarks Toolbar 0.9.2 Disabled 
7 Stumbleupon  2.6 Enabled Social Browsing
8 Download Statusbar 0.9.4 Enabled Simpler downloads
9 gTranslate 0.2.7 Enabled Quick Translations
10 Define Word 0.6.0 Enabled Highlight & define
11 Performancing 1.1.9.7 Enabled 1.2 beta
12 Gmail Space 0.2 Enabled Use Gmail Inbox for storage
13 Firebug 0.3.2 Disabled Javascript Debugger console
14 BugMeNot 1.3 Enabled One click login
15 Zoep 0.9.2 Disabled Free VoIP
16 Tab Mix Plus 0.3.0.5 Enabled Enhanced Tabbing Features
17 Attention Recorder 0.64 Disabled 

I suspect this will be a perpetual problem with any and every vanilla browser. And with Firefox, this looks like it is going the Windows way.

Windows was touted as the user-friendly OS. And, it was one to some extent. People liked the look and feel, and the point-and-click interface. But, there was still the annoying BSOD. The Windows 9x family was quite unstable. The trade-off was clear and people chose according to their needs.
IE had been used and over-used ever since the Internet came into being. Of course, IE does not render certain JavaScript enabled sites as well as the others, but yet, it was the browser of choice for an entire generation. It was (and still is, to some extent, IMHO) zippy and smooth.
Snap to the new millenium. A new browser comes into the picture and it is touted as a secure alternative to IE.
And now, Firefox is stumbling at the same point as Windows. A great alternative with its own set of problems. Memory & Performance hogging - especially when it comes to extensions. Makes you wonder is open-source really the best way to go? After all, there was, is, and always will be some difference between community and standard product testing.
Mozilla Firefox 3 - the developer's toy - is available for download. Would you choose to go for it? Or would you rather stick with your personal combination of IE and Firefox?
I have both of them, I use both of them. Oh and I have Flock and Maxthon, too. How about you? Don't feign ignorance. I know you guys have more than Firefox on your machine.
:)
Technorati Tags: firefox, IE, comparison




Blog: The Market v/s The Masses
2006-03-16T02:52:00.000-08:00
The blogosphere is nothing but the online equivalent of a human society.

Chris Garrett, over at Performancing notes:
Remember todays A-Lister could be tomorrows "remember him?", and they all started out somewhere. The audience you are ignoring could be tomorrows A-List.If you define your A-list according to Technorati Top 100 or equivalent, then yes, it could be so. Also, the A-listers have something we don't.

Let me start with a tentative OD (Operative Definition) of an A-lister:

"A-lister: Any person owning or authoring a blog which commands statistical superiority in a particular category/subject/topic over other 'fellow' blogs (and bloggers) in certain matters of detail."

The certain matters of detail being outlined below, along with tentative operative definitions, for a randomly chosen category:
Traffic: Daily page views in thousands 
Reader-base: in thousands (RSS/Atom Feed Subscribers)
TrackBacks: Anywhere between ten to twenty per day.
Comments: Genuine:S**k-up ratio of 1:10 (may be)
Flamers: Flames:Comments ratio of 1:10
And last, but definitely, positively, not the least:
Private/Closed Beta Invites
Scoops. The A-listers get the scoops. And the public seems to hang on to every word. And you and I are equally to blame on that front.

Think about this. You visit a blog and read an excellent article. Then, you scroll down and see zero (0) comments and you think, "Hmmm, no comments? Looks like this guy gets no traffic at all. So why bother, he's not gonna miss me any way, heck he doesn't even know I came here!" The next guy comes along and does *exactly* the same thing. And the blog ends up wth a meagre 20-30 unique visitor traffic with no returning visitors.

On the other hand, an A-lister blogs about his vacation in Miami or his Blogosphere experiments and watch the traffic shoot!

Are we hypocrites or what?

I am not saying that we suck-up to them all the time, but if you draw up the stats you will see that 80% of the "A-list" bloggers'  posts have been reviews/reports of 'the next big things' or stupid PR experiments. Occasionally, there are a few flames too. When was the last time you saw an A-lister come out with something genuine and refreshing?

Bloogging may not be all about the traffic, but it is human tendency to seek some recognition especially if one believes he/she is worth it. I will not blog for the masses if they are not going to acknowledge me. What's the point? Isn't it a failure? It is like a startup which does great things but doesn't sell.

Blogging for the market and Blogging for the masses are polar opposites. Blogging for the masses is when you provide value and generate conversations, even if it means discussing whether the weather is good for flying or not. Blogging for the market means that you HAVE to look at the traffic. Remember, your blog is no different than the advertising bill board off Freeway 66.

After all, you have to make every stopover count, right?

Disclaimer:
Intelligent readers will please note the following very important points:

1. I have not linked any of my subtle references back to Robert Scoble of Microsoft, PR guru Steve Rubel and Jeremy Zawodny, for fear of getting flamed.

2. The A-lister stats in the Operative definitions were simple guesswork. If anybody has conducted appropriate research and can give me the correct figures, I would be only too happy to post them on my blog.

3. Yeah I know, I am lazy.

Technorati Tags: blog, a-list, market, masses, peeves




I don't want to look pompous.
2006-03-03T23:48:00.000-08:00
Guys, my fears and worries were genuine.

And here it is.
He [Mark Saysell, IT director at Coutts Retail Communications UK], said: "Google has definitely over-stepped the mark and in turn is forcing IT departments to take a very draconian approach to machine security and web access."
On the 20th of February, silicon.com mentioned this about GDS 3 in a story by Andy McCue - GDS 3 was a security hazard.
'Lock down the search feature or ban it from the network'
Colin, Michael, like I said before, I have no issues with the quality of Google products. The perpetual 'slip-ups' and strange policies are worrying.

How can 'the Google' afford to slip up like that?

Technorati Tags: Google, peeves, security, Google Desktop Search, GDS




The (Capit-)A-list Bloggers
2006-02-28T08:35:00.000-08:00
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer...

All humans are born equal. but we just have to admit the fact that some men are more equal than the others. The society was, is and always will be divided into classes based on the financial status. Money is the deciding factor. Some people will always have more money than the others. It doesn't matter where the money comes from. What matters is whether you are able to sustain it. 
There is always gonna be an invisible glass-ceiling stopping you from reaching there. If you are a novice and you want to break the glass ceiling, you have to either try VERY hard or circumvent it somehow. There is no short-cut of course. The only way to 'circumvent' it is to somehow grab the attention of any one of the elite class. If you have done that, you have done the hard work. The rest is simply smooth sailing. 

So how do you grab their attention? There are two ways of doing it:
1. Flame them - Oppose them vehemently so that they rant against you. Like someone said, there's no bad publicity, only publicity.
OR
2. Claim them - Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Give them good references and you will be rewarded someday.

Are you done reading it? Very well, now follow these instructions:

1. Replace every occurence of the words 'humans' or 'people' with the word 'Blogs'
2. Replace every occurence of the word 'society' with the word 'Blogosphere' 
3. Replace every occurence of the word 'money' with the word 'traffic'
4. Replace every occurence of the phrase 'elite class' with 'A-list'

Surprised, eh?

Yes, apparently, you can treat blogs  the blogsphere on par with human evolution  human society. Just as the human society is divided into classes, so are blogs. And, every blog is a part of some closed community. 

The Flame approach worked for these guys who started off as a rant blog. Look where they are today - among the top 10 in WordPress Blogs. 

Like society, there is no dearth of writing talent in the Blogosphere. It just takes some time to be discovered and some discoveries happen too late. Some happen too early. 

Some don't happen at all.

I think I know what hapens to mine.


Technorati Tags: Blogs, capitalism, A-list, society, comparison




I am AmigaOS. Pity I never used it before...
2006-02-27T07:47:00.000-08:00
Mood: Silly
Result: Very Silly

I took the BBSpot "Which OS are you test" and here's what I found:


Which OS are You?

Pity, I never have used it before. Nice way to kill time, tho'... What OS are you? 

More from the same site:
Which file extension are you?

Heh. I won't tell you the results of THAT one... Keep guessin'!!

Don't cheat

Technorati Tags: Quiz, BBSpot, OS, Amiga, Fun




I have violated Patent 7,000,180. So, arrest me.
2006-02-24T01:44:00.000-08:00
Information Week reports:
A patent has been granted to a relatively unknown California Web-design firm for an invention its creator says covers the design and creation of most rich-media applications used over the Internet. The patent holder, Balthaser Online Inc., says it could license nearly any rich-media Internet application across a broad range of devices and networks.
In simple words, this page, and this page and this one and this one and this one - you get the drift - are in violation of the United States Patent Law (direct link to PDF).

Oh and by the way, no use yelling now. The patent's already been issued - on Valentine's day. Lovely, eh?

The Patent applicant (now owner) claims everything from creating users for media-rich applications to maintaining them on hosting services. Which essentially means that if you are using Flash, Flex, Java, AJAX and XAML on your site, you gotta pay these guys.

And they don't even have their names on the first page of Google Search results, sheesh!!

If you are wondering why nobody ever knew about this coup d'état, I recommend you run a quick eye through the Patent. The references are so subtle it would take a keen-eye to spot them. But, the references are there. All references to rich media and the explanations thereof, point clearly to the various rich-media enablers described early on in this post.

The A-list bloggers might recall the name of Neil Balthaser. He was declared a DEMOgod in the 2001 DEMO conference for the Flash-based website builder Pro:Fx.

Flash-based? Erm, back in my days, this was called hypocrisy. But then, the world has changed now, After all this is the Web 2.0, right?

I, for one, am looking forward to this conversation in particular...

With my ear-drums well-protected, of course. :)

Tags: Patent, violation, screw-up, peeves, hypocrisy, USPTO 7000180




Google launches Office Live... erm.. Google Pages...
2006-02-23T06:04:00.000-08:00
The Big Brother launched Google Pages yesterday. Of course, it is in Beta.

Here's how they are plugging it:
 Want to create an online photo tour of your vacation to Bali? An overview of the South American precipitation cycle for your science class? A shrine to your pet ferret? 
        Google Pages comes five days after Microsoft's Office Live, which was recently launched amidst fanfare among the A-list bloggers. That's fast.

Compare this to the launch of Pages and the blogosphere opinions on Google Pages:
"Google Pages Released" by Nik Cubrilovic on Techcrunch
"Google Page Creator" by Matt Cutts of Google
Jeremy Zawodny's Google Page - Spammers hit the Motherlode!!
None from Scoble... Interesting...
 Some first impressions:
Google Pages follows Google's clean design policy.
Ajaxified Geocities?
There is a 100 MB limit. 'Nuff said...
Intuitive working interface.
What struck me initially as pleasant and later as funny was this: Google Pages in OPEN beta. Seems like they are sending a message across to someone...

So, now, with its foray into personal pages, Google has literally become an all pervading force on the Web. I think I'd better create a list of Google products on listible. Wait, they are gonna buy that one too, right?

There seems to be a 100 page max limit on each user account. Hmmm...

Currently the user accounts are stored as yourgmailusername.googlepages.com which, I admit is ugly. C'mon guys, unleash the spam upon me! Would you be willing to risk that?

But I suspect, they are in the process of securing a deal with one or the other hostname providers to get your own domain name for free.

My bet is it will be either GoDaddy or Register. The former because it is the most popular, the latter because it's, uhh well, never mind...

There are they haven't yet incorporated Google Analytics into Google Pages. I suspect it won't be too long before they do that.

It remains to see how long Pages remains in beta. But I do admit, pages is pretty slick even for a beta. Although it kept going offline quite frequently (every hour or so, frequent by Google standards) You can access mine here.

By the way, I don't know how many of you have noticed, but all our clicks in Gmail are redirected through this site. Read through the content. eMail marketing, eh? Seems my fears are turning out to be right. Well, time to shut down my Gmail account or what?

Technorat tags: Google, Google Pages, Office Live, launch, Beta




Hi!! This is your friendly Disaster guy calling!!
2006-02-17T02:20:00.000-08:00
Dina Mehta has just posted something that will hearten every Indian...

The Hindu quotes:
Union Minister for Science, Technology and Ocean Development Kapil
Sibal on Monday launched the Natural Disaster Information System
(NDIS), a first of its kind pilot project aimed at alerting people
about any impending natural disaster.
This project is currently under private-public partnership by the Technology Development Council (TDC) and Bangalore-based Geneva Software Technologies.

The NDIS will communicate alerts over mobile fones and specially setup Wireless PA systems in - get a load of this - less than ONE minute...

Now, if only these people had the good sense to bring something like this into action a little earlier - like a few years. But, I guess, what they say is right, better late than never.

Rest in peace, folks. Be assured, that if this pilot kicks off and kicks off well, your kids and grandkids won't have to see the days you had to... Our deepest and fondest thoughts are with you. R.I.P

Note to self:
Keep your cellfone full of juice and dough. I wouldn't want to miss a call like that one anyday.

Thanx Dina!! via 14donline.net


Technorati Tags: NDIS, India, Disaster, pilot, alerts



Desk-top this, baby!!
2006-02-09T01:08:00.000-08:00
Mike Arrington over at TechCrunch reports that the Big G has released the next version of its Desktop Search utility: Google Desktop Search 3. And he's being very cautious about it..

I am not happy.

Mike's stand on this?
This is of course a touchy privacy subject, but the ability to search from a remote computer will be very welcome by some users.
The point of contention is the new "Search Across Computers" feature which horrifed me. Until now, the Desktop Search explicitly declared that all your results would be stored locally, and locally only.

I haven't been much of a fan of the Desktop Search anyway, but this release is just too mind-whacking not to report about. Compare this, the older versions of the Google Desktop Search (Link probably expires soon) :
 These combined results can be seen only from your own computer; your computer's content is never sent to Google (or anyone else). 
with this, the new answers by Google:
Search Across Computers enables you to search your documents and viewed web pages across all your computers. For example, you could find files you edited on your desktop from your laptop. To activate this feature, you will need a Google Account (the same login you use for Gmail, Orkut, or other Google services). Remember, to search your other computers you must also install Google Desktop on them as well as enable the Search Across Computers preference using the same Google Account on each one.
My "other" computers? Heck, If I had two computers in different places I would be using some CMS or a  Collaboration tool or some other Sync software. Why should I Search Across Computers?

A touchy privacy subject, eh? Well Mike, you are damned right on that one!

Oh but wait, I had given up my privacy the day I accepted the Gmail, Orkut, etc. and all those ever-forever-'beta's... Have you read their privacy policies? Actually, all of the Google 'Programs' have only one standard privacy policy.

So, I shouldn't be complaining at all...

Moreover, ain't I forgetting something??
"We're not Evil!!"
Oh yeah! Right!! Hmm... Let's see:

Here is a short version of the Google 'We're-not-evil' Policy over the years:
(with subsequent ramifications-due-to-ambitions)
We're not evil.
We're not evil, we just want to access all the data in the world so that we can give you better results.
We're not evil. After all, we're offering you 2000MB to store your mails. But you'll have to let us read them? Why? Ads, of course!! Somebody's gotta pay for that right??
We're not evil, we just want to access your data so that we can give you better searches on your desktop.
We are not evil. We are just keeping an eye on you if you are doing anything illegal so that we can sell it to the world and thus, earn our 'pious' money .
We're not evil, but we don't want to show you the truth. So what if the world calls them slants? WE slant towards 'other' things - World Domination, for example...
We're not evil, but we will refuse you entry into our living room if you do evil things. Yes, Optimising your site for our Search Algorithm is an evil thing. Why? Because only we are allowed to do that!!!Excuse me, I have to go throw up.

Tags: google, desktop, search, privacy, violation, ShrikantJoshi, CorporateSpices




Technical Evangelism: Crusade or Crushed?
2006-02-05T23:38:00.000-08:00
There's a new kind of 'Evangelism' around the block and it has nothing to do with the word of God.

So what is Technical Evangelism?

According to Guy Kawasaki, (Expert on VC & Startup Advisories), Technical Evangelism entails falling in love with the product. Technical Evangelism involves preaching the word of the company to all and sundry in a way that they would appreciate. In his article, "The Art of Evangelism," Guy notes:
Learn to give a demo. An “evangelist who cannot give a great demo” is an oxymoron. A person simply cannot be an evangelist if she cannot demo the product. If a person cannot give a demo that quickens the pulse of everyone in the audience, he should stay in sales or in marketing.
Remind me again, isn't that what people in Sales and Marketing do? To sell a product you HAVE to give a Demo, without which the client will NOT accept your call. So where does a Technical Evangelist score over a normal Sales person? Passion? Pride? Love? Cause? Or simply his 'title'?

Over here, Robert Scoble of Microsoft has this to say about Technical Evangelists:
I'm not a Guy kind of Evangelist. Scoble plays a defensive hand saying his Title (Technical Evangelist) bothers him. He says it has religious connotations. The one thing he does agree with Guy on, is about the demos. He also agrees that TEs have to be great at (Customer) relationships.

OK. Agreed.

Call me foolish, or old-fashioned even. I have always believed that this was the job of the Pre-sales Team, i.e. buttering up the client and setting him up for your S&M Team (pardon the double entendre, but it somehow fits...)

And Michael Swanson (again, MS) is -surprise, surprise- hiring Tech Evangelists. He wants his future (junior) colleague to have:
Persistence – no, I’m not talking about serialization or permanent storage (but extra points if those came to mind), I’m talking about your innate ability to push forward despite setbacks and frustration. Your friends probably use terms like driven and unstoppable to describe you, and in rare cases, maybe even annoying. Hopefully not too much of the last one.And what does he expect the guy in his Sales Department to have? Impatience? Frustration with handling irritated cutomer calls? Since that is now redirected elsewhere, it doesn't even remotely apply to them anymore.

May be I am being naive, but all these factors indicate one of two things:
The Sales Job will soon be taken over by the Technical Evangelist Forces and companies will soon no longer have a Sales Department.OR
Techincal Evangelism is a grossly over-rated title for someone who does exactly what a dedicated and sincere sales-person would do.There may be more factors, but I see these two prominently.

Previously, if a person spoke at length about his company's product, he was supposed to be 'pitching' and an an 'aggresive marketeer'. Some even went to the extent of calling him a 'perpetual salesman'.

Now, with the web 2.0 meme, it turns out that it is a fashion to speak 'lovingly' about your product. Congratulations! You are not an aggressive marketeer any more, you are now a "Technical Evangelist"!!

Oh, and one more thing: you can be a Tech Evangelist, if (and ONLY if) your company has a four letter NYSE acronym . If not, then you are a T-R-O-L-L.

The policy of Sales is a simple circle:
You gotta have a great sales pitch to bring in the revenue. 
You gotta have a great Product to have a great sales pitch.
You gotta have good product sales to keep your development team happy. 
And finally, you gotta keep your development team happy to have a Great product.So where does it all begin and where does it all end?

You cannot make a job any more glamorous than it is by simply giving it a new name.

Whether you are hiring a Techincal Evangelist or a Sales Executive, the first and probably the only thing you look at is the passion which he displays while talking abount his likes and dislikes. All the rest follows as a corollary. If a person cannot be passionate about something, he cannot be passionate about anything. It doesn't matter what he is passionate about. It could be anything for cars to cricket and from Samba to sex. The passion is what drives men to their goals.

Tell me truthfully guys ( Yes I am referring to you, you and you.) Are you driven by your job or your passion?

Or better still, is your job your passion?



WMF? Again? WTF?
2006-01-10T07:38:00.000-08:00
Hardly five days have passed since Microsoft out-of-cycle Patches. And Researchers over at Bugtraq have already found two more vulnerabilities in Microsoft's WMF Rendering Engine. From the site:
These issues affect the 'ExtCreateRegion' and 'ExtEscape' functions.
This must have something to do with the recent CERT reports
on how Microsoft Windows was less vulnerable that Linux/Unix. The world's most widely used OS was recently certified by CERT as having lesser vulnerabilities than Linux.

Experts and Linux-lovers from around the world engaged in hot debates on the topic with opinions ranging from how results were rigged to miscategorisation claims (this one by RedHat) to crying unfair.

And now, barely five days after the report was published, two more flaws in the same engine are discovered. Seems like someone was waiting to do it... Well, they do say, revenge is a dish best served cold...

As for the exploit-fears, the solution and advice is the same:
Do not open images from untrusted sources
Keep your mail image setting to high security, i.e. edit your mail options to "Do not display HTML Graphics." Follow this, especially if you are using a web-based email client.
Keep your system updated with the latest patches from Microsoft.
Keep an eye out for updates from this site. His name is Ilfak Guilanov and he is one of the good guys. :)
Get generic WMF vulnerability news.
http://news.google.com/news?q=WMF+vulnerabilitySeriously though, on a positive note, the more vulnerabilities are found, the better it will be. The optimist says, we are on a way to a better and secure system. This, as long as, the competition remains healthy. Once it disintegrates into a bloodbath, well....

Of course, Redmond must act fast, something it has been known not to do. Billy boy, are ya listenin'?

(via PCMAG: New Batch of WMF Flaws Flagged )

Technorati Tags: WMF, vulnerability, exploit, security, ShrikantJoshi, CorporateSpices




The Anti-Microsoft war.
2006-01-05T04:18:00.000-08:00
On New Year's eve, Zhao Jing a.k.a Michael Anti, an out-spoken Chinese Journalist found his blog taken down. Note the words "TAKEN DOWN". Not censored, not blocked, but TAKEN DOWN.

Rebecca's post dated 3rd of January, borught Microsoft's high-handedness to the notice of the world. Rebecca MacKinnon, co-founder of Global Voices Online, and a research fellow at Berkman Center for Internet and Society, quotes:      
"Anti is one of China’s edgiest journalistic bloggers, often pushing at the boundaries of what is acceptable"
      
And it does not end here. MSN Spaces continues to support the communist Government of China (the Peoples Republic?) to censor anti-China blogs.
            Rebecca had already found MSN Spaces censoring controversial titles. Words like "Falun Gong", "Tibet Independence" received error messages saying the language was forbidden. Huh? However, a post containing inane words in the title and the controversial words in the body was accepted but was taken down within three days of its publishing. This proved that there was a human editor behind the systematic search-and-destroy operation.
            It was soon taken up by Robert Scoble of Microsoft who invited the wronged Chinese journalist to setup a guest blog on his personal. Among all this, it was heartening to see Robert Scoble of Microsoft        stand by Rebecca        . Scoble extended an invitation to Anti to blog on HIS site as a guest. It will be interesting to see what happens to Scoble's blog if Anti does accept the invitation.            An update on Scoble's blog states that MSN Spaces has woken up to the blogosphere's outcry and is looking into this.
What is worrying is the arrogance shown by MSN Spaces. A blog was taken down simply because the Chinese Government would be offended. Words blocked because they are controversial. By blocking Anti's blogs MSN Spaces has made a big mistake. The repercussions of this are sure to be heard far and wide...
But I sincerely doubt whether anything is gonna happen. The topic has already begun to die off. The blogosphere memory is short and restricted to the comments per post. As soon as a new post crops up the older one is forgotten. And along with it go all the sentiments and the outcry.      Here's what I think will happen (in chronological order):
Day 1-5: The blogosphere will make a noise about the tyranny of Microsoft and MSN Spaces. Bloggers will make a hue and cry about Microsoft's high-handedness.
Day 3-7: Some hopeful posts (like this one) will try and garner people to their blogs with the expectation of making it big in the Blogosphere.
Day 7-9: Discussions on the necessity of free speech in the Blogosphere will crop up. People will cook up stories on how Microsoft tried to censor their blogs.
Day 9-11: Another anagram/MS Easter Egg/whatever linking Bill Gates/Microsoft to the Devil will be found.
Day 12: Steve Rubel will post a funny incident involving a cat, a rabbit and his keyboard with pictures. It will soon be the most tagged item on del.icio.us, Flickr, Technorati and will rise to rankings for the keyword "bizarre"

Get the picture?




Collection of Shri's feeds on SuprGlu
2006-01-03T05:22:00.000-08:00
              Suprglu: One place to blog                  all                your blogs... and more.      
      Suprglu is YAWS(Yet Another Web2.0 Start-up), (so to speak) but scores high on innovation, I feel. Well, most of the innovation today is simply mash-ups. Yet, SuprGlu manages to stand out.Integration of the many services on offer is a prime thing that we speak about today. SuprGlu does just that. Although the name SuprGlu sounds corny (why drop the vwls, guys??), the site does more than make up for that.SuprGlu allows you to see your Del.icio.us links, your Blogger blogs, your Flickr fotos, and a host of other feeds on one page. So, the next time you tag a link and write a blog entry about it, while uploading a foto at the same time, you know where you can find it all aggregated!!              Check it out at        shrikant.suprglu.com/      
    




Hex blog: WMF Vulnerability Checker
2006-01-03T02:25:00.000-08:00
      A vulnerability was reently discovers in the Windows WMF format which could lead to your system being compromised. Security analyst Ilfak Guilfanov has reated a patch for the this vulnerability.
      You can read more about the vulnerability on Ilfak's site or download the patch. The patch provided by him is on an AS-IS basis and unofficial. Yet, SANS security center advises that the patch be downloaded and installed on every Windows machine.
      Note: The Sans guys have reverse engineered the patch and found it to be effective. Yet, install the same at your own discretion. Me, I have installed it. You?
              Read more at        www.hexblog.com/2006/01...      
    




Predictions are hot and Blake Ross is on fire!
2005-12-26T23:33:00.000-08:00
Blake Ross of Firefox comes up with his own list of 10 'predictions for the year 2006. Who knows, may be some of them will actually turn out to be true. He he.

Here's a collection of my favs:

This one seems to be A take on 37signals, what say, Blake?

Although 37 venture capital firms will invest in AOL following the announcement, the blogosphere will scoff that AOL is “only for people who know nothing about the Internet.” Rupert Murdoch will thus acquire the company immediately, then merge it with his other recent acquisition to create online powerhouse AOL Gore.This had me ROTFLMAO...
Yahoo, acclerating its bid to dominate the social space, will announce that it is buying the actual societies of 32 cash-strapped governments. Citizens will be allowed to link their existing names to their Yahoo accounts.
Will they, won't they?

A uncanny sense of humour combined with fiery sarcasm makes Blake's post a must-read. Those of you who haven't yet seen it, I have one word for you: Subscribe!



Yahoo! ate my homework!
2005-12-09T08:18:00.000-08:00
The newest excuse for teenagers and youth wishing to avoid the chore of homework!

Sounds exaggerated, eh? Well, not if you visit Yahoo! Answers

Sample some of the questions asked by 'Yahooligans':
Is this just like a big message board and not a search engine?
 what divides the earth into northern and southern hemispheres? what continet is brazil located on?
What is the meaning of life?
 Do girls really play video games?
of pepsi and coca-cola which is better?If you think I am kidding, I urge you to go check it out.

I do agree that Yahoo! Answers is in a nascent stage and it needs to evolve (whatever that means) and that people using the service need to mature, etc. etc. Personallly, I think that's a load of tosh.

I am particularly pissed off at the people who answer such stupid questions. Their only excuse is they get points for answering them and more points get you into better levels?

Points? Levels? WTF?



Colayer is on 1.2 beta.
2005-11-30T02:05:00.000-08:00
Finally.

Colayer.com is live on 1.2.

A lot of functionalities are missing and a lot more remain to be added. But I am proud of the leap. Simply because, it means a lot to me. After three months of relentless pursuit and sleepless nights, we have migrated from 1.1. to 1.2. Yes, it is still beta, but it is a huge leap nevertheless.

So what is the difference between 1.1 and 1.2?

Simple.  The stability of the platform and solving of a lot of memory issues.

Okay, so the stability is still an issue, but it will be solved soon. The guys here are working hard to solve the issues. And I am proud to be a part of the team.

Soon, we will have a working, stable fully functional alpha. Until then, enjoy the wait...

I know, I will.



Web 2.0 - the way I see it.
2005-10-20T09:57:00.000-07:00
The answer is simple. Web 2.0.

So what is Web 2.0? Think of it this way: You create a software that caters to a section of the market which nobody has tapped until now. You release the first version of your software. People like it and start using it. It becomes so popular nobody even dares to touch it. You are the sole leader. Over the time, better machines come out but your software is still the same. Your consumers slowly begin to dissent. You realize that it is time to act now.

So you gather your team of developers. They have been waiting to do it. In fact, most of them have been working away on small projects. You build new features and new additions to go along with the latest in the market. And you release a new version.

The Internet until now was the Web version 1.0. It is now time for a newer, more stable, more power-packed version to take over. Why? Simply because we as consumers want more. We are not satisfied with innovation. We want innovation tailored to the latest trends on the Internet. A couple of years ago it was the eMail and web-based eMail clients. Now it is Collaboration and Web-based Collaborative Clients. And that is why, it is time for a new version of the World Wide Web.

Google, Yahoo and MSN complied with the AJAX trend and the results were Reader, MyWeb2.0 and Start (Live, to some extent, too...)  respectively. With Web 2.0 being the hot topic currently, who knows what can come out of their kitties.

I, for one, am waiting to see what happens.



Web 2.0 - the way it seems to be...
2005-10-20T09:08:00.000-07:00
There has been a lot of hype and hoopla over the term Web 2.0. I don't know how many understand it. I, for one, am not a geek. So I won't claim to understand it. But I am in the Web business. Therefore, I must try and understand it. When did things start moving? When did this trend get defined? Who are the players? What were they doing? What ARE they doing?

First, the larger players:
Yahoo started of with Flickr, a community portal, which was built to share images. Flickr was probably Yahoo!'s first foray into Social Software. Seems to me as if they were testing the waters. The real product had been hidden from the public. The came Yahoo 360, a social networking feature from Yahoo!, combined with other Yahoo features. A one-page dash that made accessing any Yahoo service from the page easy. Groups? Click here. Mail? Click here. Private Message? Click here. Make friends? Click here.

If you thought that was Yahoo!'s secret weapon, sorry, you are mistaken. The real weapon was held back until the trends could be clearly seen. And that happened with Tim O'Reilly's conference titled Web 2.0. Mean while, Yahoo! decided to take a bold step and released the beta (?) version of MyWeb 2.0, whether knowingly or unknowingly, no one knows for sure.

Google started off big, converting Usenet into Google groups. And then came Orkut. There was a time when Google said, it had no idea of taking over Orkut. on 15th of September 2005, however, Google turned on its words. There were a lot of debates on this action by Google, but it chose to remain silent as ever and sure enough, the debates died down. Then came Google Personalized Home and Google Reader beta, an RSS feed aggregator was recently released. It won't be long before Google combines the power of its many

MSN cobbled together a few pieces and gave its users MSN spaces, but even MSN itself knew that was not going to work. So they closed their doors and came up with start.com - an AJAX based interface that defies the trend followed by MSN. All that MSN has doled out previously as products, suddenly seem cheap by comparison. Suddenly, MSN has this sexy look and feel attached to its products.

One thing I note is, every one of these giants has its own developer space. MSN has MSN Sandbox, Google has the much publicized Google Labs and Yahoo! has the secretively hidden Yahoo! Backyard (Just a guess, but like all secrets, everybody knows.).

And now for the interesting part. While the Goliaths have been resting on their laurels with these puny apps, the Davids have been silently chipping away shares in the market. Here are a FEW names:

37signals.com is an interesting collaborative tool.
Ups-Simple and ease of use.

People on the net swear by Zimbra & Kubisoft.
Positives - Contextualizing eMail

Prototype.com - Ajax implementation of your Workspace on the Web (Yes, Really.)
Positives. Drag and drop. Click and Save. Feel of a Desktop, work on the Web.

Blinklist - a Web2.0 implementation which allows people to share bookmarks with 'blinks'.
Positives. - The collaborative approach

Technorati Tags - a Web2.0 implementation of collaborative blogs sharing with 'tags'.
Positives - The collaborative approach

These are but a few examples of the many that I can't even begin to count. Where were these players for so long? They were around, but suddenly they are being 'discovered'. Why?

(To be continued)




A Short (biased) history of Collaboration - The Final Part (Phew!)
2005-10-18T07:00:00.000-07:00
The story until now...

This is the last of three parts in a series on Collaboration. The first of the three articles presented a quick introduction to the historical aspects of collaboration. The second article discussed the concept of Wikis as the new collaborative concept. The final part of the series concludes with an analysis of the current alternatives. Possible alternatives to the current scenario are suggested, and probable outcomes described. 

RSS - Really, Simple Syndication!

The primary element of a collaborative process is - obviously, participation. For synchronized alternatives, this is obviously mandatory and hence, somewhat redundant to talk about. For asynchronous software, the process of collaboration relies heavily on syndication - some sort of information must be given to 'alert' the invited party. And so RSS comes into the picture. RSS, or Really Simple Syndication (Yes.) manages this by drawing 'feeds' from the source and then sending the updated 'feed' across to the subscriber(s). Thus, when you add a new post to your blog, your RSS feed ensures that your new post appears in all your subscribers' pages, the next time they log in or refresh the page.

RSS has added a new dimension to collaboration by speeding up the process of collaboration. On the other hand, RSS posts need to be aggregated and you need to visit the posts regularly to see which of your comments has been answered. One alternative to this is to subscribe to the comments as an RSS feed. But this, according to me, is merely patch work. A blog post (as Jeremy Zawodny of Yahoo! says ) has a short shelf-life. The discussions decay with the addition of every fresh post . Truly, I agree with Jeremy when he says Following online conversations is hard work. And remembering to unsubscribe from the comments aggregator is another job, that many people would love see become automated. But is that the solution?

A few stubs...

Aggregators and Newsfeeds help in tracking information. What do you do when your Nerws page becomes untrackable? Or how do you know when to track it? Refreshing the page is just an alternative, and definitely not one that many self-confessed lovers of automata would appreciate. With speed and time becoming two major factors in communication, the obvious requirement is of a tool that combines these two factors and uses them effectively. A tool that saves time and speeds up aggregation.

eMail is passe. All innovation comes with an expiry date. No, not because eMail has become 'square' but because it has outlived its innovation. And eMail has outlived its date. RSS and Wikis are the new kids around the block. And they have come with an expiry date, too. Only, nobody knows what the dates are. Only time can tell.

Ergo Cognito Sum...

The collaborative process has seen evolution worthy of Darwin's praise. From Messenger pigeons to RSS feeds collaboration has definitely come a long way. With each evolutionary step, the world became two sizes smaller. This, in times, where collaboration was just another one of those words that described brain-storming. With collaboration becoming the buzz-word today, I wouldn't be surprised, if the major players like Google, Yahoo! and MSN soon step into the market with some of their own ideas.

Personally though, I feel, the time is ripe for another innovative idea to sweep the Internet junta off its feet. Much as I hate to admit, I am not too sure where it's coming from.

I would give an arm and a leg to find out what that is. But I think, I'll just wait and watch.

What about you?



A Short (biased) history of Collaboration - II
2005-10-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

The story until now...
This is the second of three parts in a series on Collaboration. The first of the three articles presented a quick introduction to the historical aspects of collaboration. Collaboration has made the best use of the fastest communication methods available in any given era. The article now continues with collaborative techniques and a critical analysis of the current scenarios.
Inter-Net-Working
eMails were the first instrument of information exchange on the web. Of course, they were built to serve that way. Information flew back and forth with 'suitable' comments, modifications suggestions, revisions and what not. The process of creation received a shot in the arm. But soon, spammers joined the fray and eMails, once the lifeline of the internet, were reduced to annoying snippets of information lodged between pieces of Junk - like an annoying strand of edible fibre stuck between your molars.
Usenet was popular as an information broadcast medium. 'Newcasts' were read daily by thousands and millions of users on the world wide web. Links were exchanged and offices discussed the hottest usenet topics overs steaming cups of coffee. eMail was the prime information exchange medium. Many a discussion happened over eMail. But, owing to spam, and fragmentation of context, Usenet discussions had a short life-time. Even today, one can find a lot of posts hanging without a child thread.
Then came blogs and comments. Blogs were simply an extension of the Usenet concept. With an attractive interface and the subsequent 'children' appearing as comments to the original post, Blogs served as attractive modifications to the fora-like look of discussion groups. Moreover, the 'author' of the blog held exclusive rights over his 'story'. And the commenst that ensued after were merely discussions, however, intelligent (or not) they may have been. 
The next step in evolution had to be something that combined the features of the three tools/utilities - eMail, Usenet, and Blogs. And so, the Wiki was born.
Wiki-wiki-wow-wow!!
The Wiki had the interface of a blogs, the versatility of eMail and the usability of the Usenet fora. Anybody who wanted to make a correction could do so. All he needed was a login. People are hailing Wikis as the next step in the evolution of the collaborative process. 
This is not far from the truth. Wikis do offer you the ability to co-create. For the uninitiated few, here's how wikis work: A member puts up a post (stub) on a Wiki board. Another member with additional information, adds his thoughts to the post, and they are incorporated into the main post. A third member, notices the discrepancies in the underlying concepts and edits the post accordingly. 
The co-creative process progresses asynchronously until the final blend of ideas and concepts is found. However, it is worth noting that all Wiki posts are always stubs. Simply because, information is never complete. The deeper one delves into the subject, the more information is uncovered. No Wiki post is ever a final edition.
Wiki-ed!!
Many extensions of the Wiki-concept (but essentially containing the same fundamental element) have sprung up. The Writeboard is just one of them. Writeboard allows you to create and save edited versions of documents and allows you to compare any two versions online. Ñandu is a web-based Office application that allows you to edit and co-create Office documents online. Instacoll goes a step further (or backwards?) and allows you to edit your Microsoft Office documents in realtime. Instacoll relies on a P2P model wherein participating users are invited to download a P2P client that connects two (or more) users in real time for synchronized Collaboration.
(To be concluded.)




A short (biased) history of Collaboration.
2005-10-09T23:23:00.000-07:00
Steve Rubel introduced me to AlwaysOn and I am thankful to him.

Two killjoys:
1. We've never met each other yet.
2. He doesn't know who I am. :)

I am one of the thousands or millions of subscribers to Steve Rubel's Blogfeed. Yesterday, he happened to mention AlwaysOn in his Blog post. The rest as they say, is history. Or rather, my story.

From Messenger Pigoens to Instant Messengers

There was always an element of aynchronous, non-physical communication that man followed judiciously and conscientiously. Some people went so far as to attach a romantic perspective to it, while other looked upon it as just another extension of communication. Mankind has had messenger pigeons, letters, the telegram, the telephone, eMail and now instant messaging, inform him of the various happeneings in his life. With each new discovery/invention, the world has progressively grown smaller. And the interesting part is: it doesn't stop here.

As a method of broadcast, we have seen and experienced everything from town-criers to Internet Newscasts, from Radios to Podcasts, from Television to Video Blogs, until today, information was pushed down our throats and we had no option but to either accept it or reject it. We had no say in what kind of information we wanted.

Then suddenly, one fine day, a smart guy stood up and said, "Hey I want all this, and more. I want to have my opinion, my say, on the subject you are yapping away on."
That was the day when life came to a stand-still and turned around. Collaboration was born.

Exchanging notes.

Collaboration has been prevalent in society for a very, very, long time. We have been collaborating to build bridges of every kind - from the early prehistoric rope-bridges to the current rage - The Internet. Now, there's another bridge that people are trying to re-build. Oh sorry, re-novate. There's a sudden buzz in the air about collaboration and Social Software. Yahoo! seems to be going for it with Yahoo! 360, Google has already taken over Orkut and MSN has Spaces in its top priority list for the next five years. How did this sudden social fever come about?

It all started with a smart guy who wanted to know what people felt about him. Until then, the din had been: Don't care what people think, just do it. (Apologies to the owners of the trademark phrase.) He added a comments page where people could scribble their thoughts about the subject. And boy, did they let it fly or what!

Exchanging comments progressed to exchanging mails and exchanging links. Soon thereafter, people found out that collaboration was indeed an effective tool. They realised that they had been using it for centuries. They had used it when they sat in the town=-square or when they exchanged recipes for a delectable Chocolate mousse (my personal favorite). They used collaboration, when they closed those heavy Oak doors and decided on which smart-ass was to be retained and who was to be given the boot. The light of understanding suddenly dawned upon them and they cried, "Holy Cow!! I need to collaborate!!"

In the meanwhile, another smart-guy (boy, we do have too many of those here, don't we?) decided that he could sell his products really well if he could make people read it. So he went about sending mails to everyone who would care to flaunt his eMail address. Smart-guys are always followed by copy-cats. And so the 'trend' grew and grew until we grew sick of it. So we decided to give it a name and we called it "Spam." and then came filters and Junk eMail boxes, and they are around till date.

Chaos & the Calm

The Wiki was born around the same time this was happening. And it was an instant success. Thousands and millions of stubs were generated by the minute. Keyboards all around the world experienced a never-before harassment. Documents and Words began to fly back and forth, ideas exchanged, corrections made, plans changed, discussions held, and what not.

But, in the midst of all this ruckus of ideas, one important point continued to be overlooked. How do you track all of this? The bookmarks began to grow and they grew at such an alarming rate that everytime you added a new bookmark, you forgot one. The ideas piled up high and wide. Ideas were flowing in from everywhere. The human brain, however fast it may be, still has its own limitations. We are still trying to find a way to process all this information.

(To be continued...)



An attempt at maintaining a weblog
2005-10-07T08:42:00.000-07:00
This is another one of my attempts at creating and maintaining a weblog. Most of friends flaunt a blog and some pride themselves in their anonymity. I think I am better off the way I am. Loudmouth. Garrulous. Verbose.

When Blogger asked me for the title, I wasn't sure what to name it. I wrote the first thing that came in my mind.

I think I am gonna stick with it. Looks cool. And says a lot about me and my plans for life.

Undecided.

#	Extension	Version	Status	Notes
1	DOM Inspector	NA	Enabled	Default with Firefox
2	Talkback	NA	Enabled	Default with Firefox
3	Searchstatus	1.15	Enabled	Alexa & A9
4	Greasemonkey	0.6.4	Enabled	For UserScripts
5	Restart Firefox	0.3	Enabled	One-Click
6	Multi Bookmarks Toolbar	0.9.2	Disabled
7	Stumbleupon	2.6	Enabled	Social Browsing
8	Download Statusbar	0.9.4	Enabled	Simpler downloads
9	gTranslate	0.2.7	Enabled	Quick Translations
10	Define Word	0.6.0	Enabled	Highlight & define
11	Performancing	1.1.9.7	Enabled	1.2 beta
12	Gmail Space	0.2	Enabled	Use Gmail Inbox for storage
13	Firebug	0.3.2	Disabled	Javascript Debugger console
14	BugMeNot	1.3	Enabled	One click login
15	Zoep	0.9.2	Disabled	Free VoIP
16	Tab Mix Plus	0.3.0.5	Enabled	Enhanced Tabbing Features
17	Attention Recorder	0.64	Disabled