Nobel replica for Tagore

Nobel panel agrees for a replica of Tagore's Nobel medallion (Times News Network)

Whoever stole it, that was disgusting. I don't understand how anybody can steal a nation pride. Well, atleast now visitors can see a "duplicate", if not the original one.

Blogs for Jobs?

Before Applying, Check Out the Blogs (NY Times)

This is a new high for blogging. The blog community is growing into so many diverse ways that it is bringing unknown people even closer. Now, who thought blogs can be used for applying jobs and posting positions by companies. I personally feel this will end the job sites like hotjobs.com and dice.com slowly and potential candidates will directly "talk" to the employers through blogs.

Area Codes are Passé

Area Codes, Now Divorced From Their Areas (NY Times)

I remember when I first landed in US, I never bothered about the area codes whenever I took phone numbers from others who are local. This was then when I was in New Mexico state. The whole state had single area code, 505.
But, when I shifted to Bay Area, I had to give my area code even to my neighbour. While giving my number, I used to give only 7 digits. They go like "What's the area code?". And I was like, "What do you mean by what's my area code? I'm your neighbout damit..". But, then I slowly realized how area codes get changed in Bay Area from 650 to 408 to 510 to 425 to whatever. Now, for me a telehpone number is a 10-digit number.
After some time, I abandoned my landline and switched to cell phone totally. I have free roaming on my plan. So, I could recieve and make calls anywhere in the United States, well ofcourse, if my provider has the "signal strength". Making a local or long-distance call is same for me now. Previously, I used to make local calls from my landline. But, now since I threw it in trash, I'm totally dependent on cell-phone. Good part is I don't bother where I am calling now - to my neighbour or my friend in east cost - they are same. Well, the bad part is, I don't recieve calls for free. But hey, I'm area code free now.
But, with this VoIP technology, the meaning for area codes have changed totally. Now, I can be in San Jose, but have a New York phone number on my landline (well, yeah, it's VoIP, I meant landline as opposed to cell phone). What more, I could be in India and have San Jose phone number and my friends can call me as if I'm in United States and I can call them too. This is great. Hey, I like VoIP. Do you know what's even more cool?.... I can have a VoIP line here and have similar line with my parents (from same company though) and we can talk forever for free. Intra-carrier calls are always free irrespective of physical location for VoIP lines, atleast that's true for Vonage - my best choice.

RSS Readers I Like

I'm into RSS News Feeds since about 6 months. Believe me, it did really change the way I use web and access my news sources. I visit approximately 25 different news sources everyday. Going to each and every website and look for news is waste of time for anybody. But, I used to do it. Until, this RSS phenomenon caught up on me. I tried different RSS readers.
When I started, I wanted a standalone news aggregator. I didn't want a web-based one. After doing some research, I found Wildgrape NewsDesk to be my best choice. One disadvantage with standalone aggregators is that there will be no pop-up blockers. So, if a website has pop ups, you just can't stop them from appearing. But, good thing about NewsDesk is that you just minimize it to the taskbar and open feeds from there in a separate browser. I liked this feature a lot and have been using this since then.
The biggest disadvantage with NewsDesk is that it is only IE compatible. I switched to FireFox sometime back. But, NewsDesk opens feeds only in IE. Well, I had no choice but live with that for some time. I used IE only for 3 things - my NewsDesk feeds, any links from MSN Messener and my local language websites that FireFox didn't support.
But, after FireFox released 1.0 PR, I wanted to try Sage extension for Firefox. Sage is also an RSS aggregator, but it is web-based. I really somehow don't like web-based aggregators. But, seeing no other choice, I tried it and instantly got hooked up. I rarely used NewsDesk couple of times after that. I used Sage for some time and it became my latest favorite.
But, then I came across Bloglines. Now, I changed my loyalties to Bloglines. This is even better than Sage. The bestpart is Bloglines supports Firefox. Yeah, it is web-based too. I think I undermined web-based readers before. The biggest advantage for we-based readers is that I can access my feeds anywhere internet is available, not just from my laptop. This is cool.
Well, I have been loyal to Bloglines atleast for now. Don't know how long I'm gonna stick with this. I wouldn't have tried this in the first place had it not been compatible with Firefox. Even Bloglines have got great extension for Firefox so that whenever there are new feeds, it lets me know.
Click here for my Bloglines Page to check my Feeds.

Apple to introduce flash-based music player?

Apple to introduce flash-based music player?

I think this would please many people who needs skip-free music while working out and want to listed to the songs purchased from iTunes. Though iPods do offer skip-free for 25 minutes, that's not the solution. And some people complained about this skip-free feature of iPod. It just doesn't work in some iPods. This flash-based player would compete with iRivier players, only if Apple tags their players with competitive price.

RIAA Strikes again....... Go to hell!!!

RIAA Sues Another 762 Over File-Sharing

I don't support what RIAA is doing here. To sue somebody doesn't solve the problem imo. There was Napster once and was forced to shut, then came Kazaa which is still going strong.... and now we have bittorrent. Thoguh bittorrent is relatively new P2P, I think it is going to spread slowly into many PCs. And RIAA can do nothing about this. They wouldn't know what files a person is sharing. RIAA just sucks!!!! Big time.........
IMHO, Apple is doing great by offering songs to download for 99 cents. This is the way to curb the P2P sharing. If RIAA wants to do something, then reduce the price for songs to purchase online to attract more people. That's the way to stop sharing.

You are Fired!!!

I was watching The Apprentice Show the other day when Jennifer C. got fired. I think this firing was the most reasonable one in this season so far. When Rob got fired first, I thought anybody could get fired the first time. So, I thought he was an unlucky random pick. The next one to get fired was Brad. This was the most controversial firing IMO so far in this season. There was no reason to fire him by Trup. It was ridiculous. He was one of the strong competitor in the show.

I didn't expect to see Stacie (with ie) to go so early. Hold on...... I have my own reason. Ideally, she shouldn't have been on the show in the first place. She is the weakest link and she got fired from a failed task for no mistake of her. But, that's not the reason why I said Stacie got that 3 letter sentence too early. Remember Omarosa...... Aha..... yeah, the one weakest link from the first season. She should have got fired for like so many times.... yet she got lives just because her team used to win the tasks. And I somehow got the feeling at that time that they didn't want her to get fired to keep the show little "spicy". That's why I said I didn't expect to see Stacie go early. May be, that was for good.

I think the boys team is very strong compared to the girls team this time. Every task has produced a weak leader in the girl's team. I don't know if there is any true leader for Apex. But, Mosaic is doing good... I'm happy to see that they are going strong this time. Way to go guys....

Vivisimo Clustering

Vivisimo Clustering

First off, I'm a great Google fan. If I can't find any information on Google, I just don't go to any other search engine. For me, it doesn't exist.
But, I came across Vivisimo across a news article couple of days back. I think it is worth a try. They nicely catogarize the search results and I think it's cool. And you can preview the target page within the search results. You don't have to go to other window to see the link and come back to the search results page to check other link. I think that's a great idea.
I have even tried A9 search by Amazon. Well, I know it's based on Google search. A9 is like a layer on top of Google with some make-up. With A9, I can save my search history online, not just on my computer, and access it anywhere.
I think Google should come up with some new cool features so that it can catch up with likes of A9 and Vivisimo.

Look! Your postman has changed!

I think this is long waited for....... Now, next thing I would like to see a change is in transportation - from cycle to scooter (atleast in big cities).
Look! Your postman has changed!

iMac, My Love

iMac is my dream machine. I've always loved apple products. Their products are so ergonomically beautiful that I just forget about time. I remember, when I first saw the older version of iMac (G4), I was searching for the CPU. The monitor was in front of me, I was wondering where the hell is the actual computer. Then, after a while, I realised that the whole thing is in the "monitor stand". Oh man!!! How could they build that beautiful thing like that. I always that, when I manke enough money, I'll own one of these beauties.
Well, it so happened that Marilyn Monroe has come alive. iMac was redesigned into int's current form and WOW, this is how a computer should be. You just can't stop apple from making such great products. I'm sure I'll make this mine soon. I don't quite understand how come Sony don't make their computers like this (though Sony basically makes toys). I go to Apple stores to just spend time on these machines. You can't beat apple in design.

isnoop.net gmail invite spooler

I have used Gmail and really liked it. But, unfortunately it's still not open to everyone. I know many people want to use Gmail. I came across isnoop where anybody can request for gmail. I even gave some invites that I had. I suggest anybody to use isnoop to get Gmail account if they don't have one.

isnoop.net gmail invite spooler

Ash at Madame Tussauds!

Ash at Madame Tussauds!
She is certainly going places. Now, I'm eagerly waiting for her new film Bride and Prejudice. Her last film Kyun! Ho Gaya Na disappointed lot's of people.

Firefox - Rediscover the web

I have been using IE for long long time. Sometimes I tried Netscape but only to return to IE. I didn't like Netscape. It was really messy. IE was simple. But, I got really sick of the spyware and the browsing experience through IE. That's when I heard about Firefox sometime aound July. And I never looked back. I could customize the browser with so many extensions. I don't think I can ever go back to IE. Well, but I had to install "View this page in IE" extension so that I could visit some websites that render properly only in IE, and also some non-english websites (like www.eenadu.net - A news website in Telugu).

I would suggest anybody to use firefox - you will never regret it. It's my promise.