The Utterances of a Peculiar Mindset

My friend raxit and his friends have developed an application name Mobile for Mumbai that will assist in finding the BEST bus from a particular stop to another stop in Mumbai. I'm among the earlybirds to have tried and tested this app. Here's a short review from my side about the app.

The application is completely use centered. It makes sure that any info needed will be available with minimum key strokes and within seconds. The usability factor for the user is surely the prime factor considered while designing the application.

The auto search and radio buttons make the task of searching the bus stops very easy. And the result page has very clear and simple interface, which makes the result display soothing.

Best part of the app is it works on mobile without having to send any SMS or having GPRS. So there is no money matter involved. And you can use this app with any Java enabled handset {which are available in market for as low as 2500 bucks and 80% people in Mumbai today own Java enabled handsets}.

If you want to be among the early testers of this app, you can Drop a line at pb@m4mum.com.

PS: Raxit also has another website MyKavita.com

Did you check out latest feature by orkut? SMS alert for the scraps. I tried it out but did not work out for me. My SMS limit is currently zero. Maybe it will start working from month 2.

Google has changed its fevicon recently. A small 16X16 change, but its creating big news. Google Blogsearch lists more than 400 17000 blogs talking about the google's new fevicon. And the list excludes the discussion happening on twitter and friendfeed.
Well, whatever small google does, turns into big news. Right..?

Is meebo blocked in your organization...? Try putting 208.81.191.133 in the address bar. It should work out..

Airtel Broadband and Telephone Services (Airtel B&TS) has launched Wi-Fi service for its customers in South India at a monthly rental rate of Rs 99.

The offer will give Airtel broadband customers wireless access to broadband of upto 2 mbps speed, Airtel said in a statement.

Shamik Dass, COO - South, Airtel B&TS, said, "With the year 2007 being declared as the Year of Broadband and the increasing broadband penetration in the country, on-line life styles have become more prevalent and wireless access more pervasive.”

“Our Wi-Fi service at Rs 99 per month will promote affordable wireless access to a true broadband experience for a new generation that is seamlessly using Wi-Fi networks to exchange files and upload personalized content," he added.

Wanna listen to Radio? Internet Radio? On your Google Messenger? Follow the steps:

1. Add service@gtalk2voip.com
2. Then add: 110@radio.gtalk2voip.com
3. Make a Call to 10@radio.gtalk2voip.com
4. Enjoy listening to the radio :)

.... Make sure you have good internet bandwidth before you listen. You do not want the songs to kill in between buffers.

Ever thought of studying something new and stuck due to lack of books? Ever stuck while studying cause a concept wasn't clear from the printed book? What do you think of at this moment..? Searching net for pdfs and downloading them?
Wiki has come up with a solution called Wiki Books. Wikibooks is a Wikimedia project that was started on July 10, 2003 with the mission to create a free collection of open-content textbooks that anyone can edit. Since ts founding, volunteers have written about 26,945 modules in a multitude of textbooks.
My say: Worth a try. If you are a master of a subject, don't hesitate to go ahead and share your knowledge with the world by writing a wiki book about the topic of your interest.

Delhi Police have decided to rope in IT firms in the war against increasing cyber crime, Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal said here Wednesday.

"We have decided to rope in the services of IT majors for their expertise for the technological advancement of our sleuths and the cyber cell. They have been asked to hold regular interactions with sleuths investigating cyber crime cases," Dadwal said on the second anniversary of the women protection programme 'Parivartan'.

"The step was taken to keep pace with rapid technological advancement," he said.

"Cyber related crimes are on the rise, but we are fully equipped to meet the challenge. We have a number of experts and engineers working in the cyber cell to catch these new age criminals," Dadwal added.

The cell is a wing under Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW).

According to Delhi Police statistics, a total of 17 cases related to hacking, obscenity, e-commerce fraud (online share trading, credit card fraud) and Internet-related crimes, including copyright violation and misrepresentation on the web, were registered last year.

This was against 12 cases registered in 2005, indicating a 42 percent rise.

Earlier this month, the new police chief, in a meeting with senior officials, had directed that all cyber related cases be investigated under the EOW.

"We are planning to introduce a single window mechanism under the EOW, where all cyber crime cases will be investigated by the experts," Dadwal had told EOW officials.

"The step is being taken as the experts will scrutinize the cases and it will also help in speedy disposal of the pending cases. People will find it convenient to register their complaints," he added.

Currently, assistant commissioners of police (ACPs) at the district level are responsible for investigating cyber crime cases, besides the EOW.

In a highly surprising move, Yahoo has decided to close down its photo sharing service. Here is the message provided by the company.

For some time now we've supported your popular and favorite photo sharing service, Yahoo! Photos. But even good things come to an end, and we've decided to close Yahoo! Photos.

We will officially close Yahoo! Photos on Thursday, October 18, 2007 at 9 p.m. PDT. Until then, we will offer you the opportunity to download your original resolution photos back to your computer or to move to a great photo sharing service, Flickr – the award winning photo sharing community that has even been called “completely addictive.” All you need to do is give us your decision before we close, after which any photos remaining on Yahoo! Photos will be deleted and no longer accessible.

Yahoo has provided an option to shift the photos to other popular services like flickr, photobucket, shutterfly etc. They have also provided an option to order a CD with all the snaps downloaded.

So, if you have a photo account on yahoo and are relaxing with belief in its unlimited storage space, its time to wake up and have some action.

The tourism ministry Monday launched itself as a Brand Channel on YouTube and its 'Incredible India' promotional videos will now be available on the popular video sharing website.

The initiative will help promote tourism by showcasing India's cultural and heritage wonders to a worldwide audience on the Internet at www.youtube.com/India.

"The Incredible India campaign is well recognized all over the world and efforts are being made to maximize our reach. We have to show the world the progress India has made since its independence 60 years ago. Using YouTube website for promotion of Incredible India campaign is an effort in that direction," said Shilabhadra Banerjee, secretary, tourism ministry.

This website on YouTube will enable people across the world to experience and engage with the marvels of India through the power of video. Currently there are 18 films/videos uploaded on the site.

YouTube is a leading site where people watch and share videos through the web. It has about 48 million users in the US alone and is the eighth most visited website in the world.

Did you think that internet is only for the urban people? Then you are probably unknown of something called ITC projects.

The most noticeable of the ITC projects in Rural India are e-Choupal, iShakti, and esagu. Today, they lead a silent revolution that empowers farmers with relevant information to make their lives better.

ITC e-Choupal web portal brings real-time information on weather forecasts and customized knowledge on better farming practices to the farmers' doorstep to improve his crop management. ITC e-Choupal supply chain brings good quality farm inputs at competitive prices to increase his farm yields.

iShakti provides information and services to the farmers through a portal, which has contents pertaining to a variety of rural issues. It enables farmers to have a solution for a pest problem.

Esagu has a three-tier system consists of farmers as end users, coordinators as intermediaries to obtain crop status through digital photographs and text and communicate the advice to the farmers. The agricultural scientists with knowledge system prepare farm advices.

E-mail service has grown up lot ahead than just E-mail. Now only sending and receiving E-mails won't solve the purpose of a mail account. This is the time when the consumers are looking ahead of plain E-ails. And the biggest competition is among Gmail and Yahoo. Thought other mail services such as Rediffmail, Zapakmail are trying to enter the competition with the help of aggressive marketing through TV and Radio jingles.
Here is a short description about two of the leading E-mail services.

GMAIL
Experts still say that Gmail is the best webmail service overall, but it has new competition in the redesigned version of Yahoo! Mail. Gmail gets the most press for its 2.65GB of storage space, but Gmail also gets kudos for its intuitive organization features; users can assign labels to individual e-mails for sorting, and to organize chats and IM sessions by subject, just like regular e-mail. Also completely integrated with Gmail is Google's chat function. Google is the only provider that allows users to keep track of a chat session just like an e-mail session. You can access Gmail through a desktop e-mail client (such as Outlook Express), and Gmail gives infrequent users a lot of latitude, only canceling an account after nine months of inactivity.

YAHOO
Although the revamped version of Yahoo! Mail gives users just 1GB of storage (compared to Gmail's 2.65GB) reviews say it has a terrific interface that trumps Gmail in some areas. Yahoo! Mail's three-pane screen looks a lot like Outlook Express, and it's the only major free e-mail service that lets you read an e-mail while still being able to view your inbox. Tabbed messages let you easily flip between two or more e-mails. One downside is that Yahoo! Mail won't let you forward mail unless you pay for its Yahoo! Mail Plus service (*est. $20 per year). For those who already have a Yahoo! mail account switching to the new interface is a no-brainer. Others will have to weigh Yahoo!'s intuitive interface against Gmail's larger storage and integrated chat function. Reviews say that Yahoo!'s graphical ads are more obtrusive than Gmail's more subtle text ads.

The "Best Indian Blog Awards" competition has been declared.
"Best Indian Blog Competition" is a pursuit to note the best of Indian blogs and share with the world. Through this competition, we will be felicitating the Best of the Indian blogs and best posts.
There are many websites that arrange similar competition. But the award for the winner is just 15 seconds of fame. In this case, the prize will be surely more than just 15 seconds of fame. Morover, getting links is something you will win if nothing more. I think i do not need to tell you about the importance of incoming links in Search Engine Optimization and Blog Rankings. The serious bloggers should not miss the opportunity.

The competition will run through the month of August.Check out the rules for nominating your blog for the award. And if you think your blog fits in the criteria, then do grab the opportunity. You won't afford to miss it.. :-)

Keep updated with the contents of Blog of the competition for further announcements.

I was just wondering which sites are visited maximum in India. Orkut must be the most visited followed by google, yahoo, rediff and blogger. MSN might also feature up somewhere in the top 10. One friend (Google search engine; It is not shorter than a friend these days) told me that Alexa provides the list of most visited sites in a country. So I checked out the list of top 75 sites in India.

Yahoo leads the way, probably because of variety of services it provides like groups, mail, geocities etc. Orkut is on second rank. No surprise with that. This Social networking and discussion site operated by Google is highly popular in India. Google India comes at the third place followed by Google.com. I wonder if counted together, Google India and Google will overtake yahoo at the first place. Indians are searching a lot it seems.. Rediff comes at the fifth place, probably with the TV and radio advertisements last year..
MSN is at 6th place. Followed by the Video sharing service Youtube. It has been one of the easiest ways to share the videos online. Naukri comes to 8th place and first amongst the job sites. The search engine by Microsoft "Windows Live" acquires 9th place. Blogger is on 10th place. I was expecting it to be in first five. Big portion of Indians aren't much into blogging..

Among other most talked sites, Wikipedia is on 12th rank, indiatimes at 14th, Ebay India at 30th, Santabanta at 39th, Indian Railways as 46th, New7wonders at 57th.
Jeevansathi leads the track of matrimonial sites at 23rd position followed by Shaadi at 36th place.
Among online banking, ICICI leads at 33rd position followed by ICICIdirect at 44th and HDFC at 67th place.

The most surprising entry for me was debonairblog at 16th position. The hyper maniac desis are helping the site grow..

Google Translation is a tool that has helped a lot in comprehending the documents written in foreign language. But the service behaves in a peculiar manner sometimes. (Just like me). Check out the following example.

Step 1: Go to Google Translation

Step 2: Enter the following line into the translate Textbox:

Aishwarya's grand mom is nice and cool

Step 3: Translate from English to Spanish.

Step 4: Copy the translated text, and translate it back from Spanish to English - and see what you get.

Doesn't Google Translation Rock? :-)

Feel hard to press CTRL+ALT+DEL to lock your machine? Try this and create the icon to lock the machine on your desktop.

1. Right click an empty spot on the desktop, point to New and click Shortcut.
2. In the Create Shortcut dialog box, copy the following into the 'Type the location' of the item text box:
rundll32 user32.dll,LockWorkStation

3. Click Next.
4. In "Type a name for this shortcut", type LOCK and Click Finish
5. Now just double click on that icon to lock your computer without pressing Alt+Ctrl+Del.

Did you notice any orkut album lately? Whenever you open up an image from orkut album, two new buttons get displayed exactly above the image. The buttons are for viewing previous image, and next image. So now browsing the whole album is a matter of fewer clicks. That definitely saves some bandwidth, few clicks and a lot pain in the neck. And morover, the new facility will provide more ease in browsing.
Those google guys always know what the people want. And they never fail to please us by introducing the feature we want. The features like reply button in scrapbook, facility to upload and display videos have turned out to be very useful and interactive.
Now they should soon introduce a link to download whole album at once. Any google coder around?

When firefox identifies a website, it automatically starts pre-loading all the links contained in it in the background. Since you seldom surf further in the sites, you prefer to remove this brake and do without the "service".

This function is supposed to speed up the downloading of a site when you click on a link. However, since you would hardly visit all the links in the site, this function is generally of no use. To top it, pre-fetching brings load on bandwidth, contributes to high data quantities and costs in the volume tariff causing the browser cache to fill quickly and demand high storage requirements in the system RAM. These disadvantages outdo the advantage. Hence deactivating the function is more advisable.

To deactivate this function, Open the configuration page by typing "About:config" in the address bar. Look for "Network:prefetch-next" entry in the list. Then right-click on it and select the context command ‘Switch’. Check whether the Boolean value is set to false. In future, the system will download the websites only when you will click on a link.

Here are few of the features of Mozilla Firefox that I like. If you don't yet have firefox installed, you can download it from the link provided above and check out the features for yourself.

Tabbed Browsing

Firefox opens new web pages in tabs by default. Each of those tabs has its own close button, but don’t worry - if you accidentally close a tab, just go to the History menu to bring it back from the list of “Recently Closed Tabs.” You’ll never be crunched for space anymore, either. When you have too many tabs open to comfortably fit in a single window, scroll arrows will appear on either side and a button on the right side will always show you an easy-to-read list of all your open tabs.

Spell Checking

Sometimes you’re in a rush, and can’t remember if it’s "i" before "e" or the other way around. Firefox 2 has built-in spell checking to keep you from making any mistakes in your blog posts and Web-based email, so you can worry about more important things.

Search Suggestions

Some of the search engines in Firefox 2 can read your mind, and actually suggest search terms for what you’re looking for. Just start typing into the Search bar, and a drop down list of suggestions will appear. (Works for Google, Yahoo! and Answers.com.). And these suggestions aren't vague guesses. They match almost always.

Session Restore

Losing your place while you’re doing things on the Web is a pain. But, with Session Restore, if Firefox has to restart or closes when it comes back you’ll pick up exactly where you left off. The windows and tabs you were using, the text you typed into forms, and the in-progress downloads you had running will all be restored. You can even set Firefox to always restore your previous session instead of loading a home page, so you’ll never lose your place again.

Live Bookmarks

Firefox Live Bookmarks let you view Web feeds such as news and blog headlines in the bookmarks toolbar or menu. With one glance, quickly review the latest headlines from your favorite sites and click to go directly to the articles that interest you. Also you can keep a watch on what your friends are scribbling in their blog by adding a live bookmark of their blogs. Isn't this feature amazing? So now onwards, you won't miss any "Breaking News" :-)


An Add-on for Everyone

You can choose from over 1,000 add-ons at the Firefox Add-ons Web site. A Firefox add-on can help you comparison shop, share bookmarks with your friends, see the weather in a corner of your browser, write to your weblog, get news, listen to music - all from inside the browser you already love. You can even change the appearance of your browser - from buttons to colors and fonts - so that it matches your own personal style.

Phishing Protection

Phishing Protection takes Firefox’s security to a new level, helping to safeguard your financial information and protect you from identity theft. When you encounter a Web site that is a suspected forgery (known as a “phishing” site) Firefox will warn you and offer to take you to a search page so you can find the real Web site you were looking for.

Today I got second consignment of Ubuntu 6.0 10.0 CDs. This time I've received 10 CDs of the same. In first consignment, I had 3 CDs.
Ubuntu is a complete Linux-based operating system, freely available with both community and professional support.
Ubuntu offers you a complete Linux-based operating system, including all the major applications you need to play and work. With a strong focus on a desktop that Just Works, Ubuntu is a great choice for home or the office. The base system and all included software is free, and support is available from the community or by professional support providers.

I'm going to distribute these CDs amongst my friends and students so as to spread linux. This is under a special scheme by Ubuntu. You can also order the free CDs from here. Or alternatively, you can just put me an e-mail for the CD.

Correction: The CDs contain UBUNTU 10.0 I had earlier mentioned it as UBUNTU 6.0