Dasavatharam review and more
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
My Dasavatharam review, and the trip with a couple of film personality photo ops thrown in:
http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/2008/06/dasavatharam-review-and-trip.html
Do not expect a positive recollection.
Popularity: 23%
‘Most Beautiful Women’ and the level of writing on my blog
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
‘Most Beautiful Women’, about efforts by a Japanese TV channel to identify them in Colombia, Italy and France:
http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/2008/06/most-beautiful-women.html
The level of reading on my blog:
http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/2008/06/level-of-writing-on-my-blog.html
Popularity: 30%
The Power of ‘One’: Matt Drudge
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
This post is about Matt Drudge and how one individual is cited to be the driving force behind a nation’s(USA) line of thought, atleast politically.
Frankly, a visit to www.drudgereport.com will make you dismiss the site as a useless remnant from the days the internet was born. It is a three column collection of links, devoid of graphics save a handful of pictures embedded from some other site, an unconventional layout of ads, banner and links: in all a seemingly boring place to visit.
However, scroll down a bit and you will see the statistics of the page displayed: 19 million+ visits in 24 hours. At first I was like, Are you kidding me? A Google and Wikipedia later I am told to believe that this is no ordinary site; it is a website which decides what the media should be talking about.
The website’s history, courtesy Google search and Wikipedia, is that Matt started a mailing list with some news he collected from here and there, made it a website, published the Lewinsky scandal when noone would, became a sensation, sustained readership because of the links he posted and continues to be in the forefront of ’shaping public opinion’ through his headlines and stories he links to.
All he does in link to various external websites, though he does host exclusive stories, like the O ba ma-turban uproar and the Mc C ain bomb-bomb-bomb-Ir an comment.
From what I have read on commentary about this website, the national media is forced to cover whatever Matt features on his website - because of the volume of visitors to his site. And increased coverage of his site in turn means more people returning to check for news.
So it’s something like this: one guy, sitting in Miami, monitoring websites and his inbox for stories noone bothers to report or ‘miss’, decides to make an obscure article his main headline, and boom-it’s all over the media! Isn’t it fun to be that guy… This, is the power of one.
The story behind The Drudge Report goes beyond this: fine print on Al Go re’s loss, John K er ry’s debacle, Hil lary’s downfall and negativism over M c Ca in will point to Matt Drudge’s selection of news stories. He is mentioned as a factor in all these events. This also gives me the creeps because misusing it….well let’s just hope he doesn’t.
Of course, this website is mainly concerned about politics in the USA. So if you want to follow what’s happening, this one site is almost more than enough.
For all his fame Matt is cited as a very reclusive guy, furthering his ‘Godly’ status. Atleast columnists refer to him(and his website) as one….
I am fascinated by this guy because for all the policies set by corporate enterprises, effort spent on presentation, content, research on target audiences, a guy with a simple, down to earth website linking, mind you, not even hosting stories can channel opinion so forcefully. Any media outlet dreams of such power.
Further reading: Google Matt Drudge and go through links over a couple of pages; for a summary Wikipedia him and his website.
trackback: http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/2008/06/power-of-one-matt-drudge.html
Popularity: 14%
Rupee to Dollar conversion = comedy
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
We were out shopping and D wanted to buy a new strap for his Timex watch, which he had bought in India. The strap he selected and got fixed to his watch cost $7. This was enough for S to see the lighter side - “7 dollar watch ke liye 7 dollar ka strap,” he said, getting us into peals of laughter. D said, “Come on, its not 7 dollars, it cost me around Rs.600.” S promptly replied: “So what.. It would have depreciated anyway… Still, strap = half the price of watch!”
Such conversion tactics never work. The value of goods is skewed if converted for every small thing, so the best is to compare value with goods from the same country. Then it works out perfectly.
trackback: http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/2008/05/rupee-to-dollar-conversion-comedy.html
Popularity: 21%
Google Reader - 2 convenient buttons(bookmarks)
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
I use Google Reader to keep in track with the zillions of posts fed to Nittians.com, but I started it out to keep watch on my friends.
I found two useful buttons(bookmarks).
The first one is a ‘next’ bookmark, which upon clicking will take you to the next unread item(the actual page itself) in your Reader; you don’t have to visit the Google Reader homepage to find the next unread item.
This option is found in the ‘Settings>Goodies’ in Reader, under the ‘Put Reader in a bookmark’ section. You have to drag it and put it in the bookmarks tab(or bookmarks folder if you don’t have one).
The clearest advantage of this bookmark is that you will visit the actual page of the person you’ve subscribed to, giving it a ‘personal touch’. However, if you have subscribed to a news feed, this is not a good choice, instead you can use the other option available: you can bookmark only for certain tags. This option too is available in the same section I mentioned earlier.
The second useful bookmark is the ‘Share’ button with which you can add a webpage to your (Google Reader’s) shared page with a click of a mouse, adding any notes if required.
It can be found by clicking on the ‘Notes’ link under ‘Your Stuff’ on the collapsible panel on the left side in Reader. Again you have to drag the given link to your bookmark toolbar(or folder), and upon clicking it when on a page will give an option of sharing by including any remarks or ‘notes’ you want to. Here’s a picture to help you better:
Hope these two help you out in some way.
first posted at http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/
trackback: http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/2008/05/google-reader-2-convenient.html
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Popularity: 16%
Google’s new favicon: I like the old one better
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
Google have changed their ‘favicon’, i.e. the icon displayed on tabs and in the address bar in Firefox 2 and in IE7 (I wonder if it is displayed in the older IEs?).
From the capital G taken from their “Google” to a lower case blue coloured g from the same font, it does not have the same imperial feeling it used to.
Old icon
New icon
A search yielded only 2 results; looks like only a few have noticed enough to document it.
I prefer the older icon. The new one may seem stylish but…..an upper case character plays more on the mind than a lower case one.
I guess it is a permanent fixture, but I would love to imagine that it is only a temporary change.
:’-(
first posted at http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/
trackback: http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/2008/05/googles-favicon-i-like-old-one-better.html
Popularity: 15%
Copying and pasting content from other websites to your blogs is wrong
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
I have noticed that many folks whose blogs are fed here copy content from other blogs/websites and paste them.
You should know that this is copyright infringement, especially when the websites have specific copyright statements, you could be breaking a law. For example, take the BBC’s copyright policy from this page:
“In accessing the BBC’s web pages, you agree that you may only download the content for your own personal non-commercial use.
Except where expressly stated otherwise, you are not permitted to copy, broadcast, download, store (in any medium), transmit, show or play in public, adapt or change in any way the content of these BBC web pages for any other purpose whatsoever without the prior written permission of the BBC.”
Sometimes it is very tempting to share something interesting, but copying and pasting it verbatim is not the answer. What should be done(from what I have noticed on many websites), is to quote some of the relevant text and give a link to that page, like is done on this page.
Another way to look at it is, would you like for the content you write on your blog with your creativity and talent to be copied elsewhere without proper reference or attribution? Please, avoid copypasta. Instead you could provide commentary on that piece, adding explaining the effects it would have on you/the community in general.
Cheers.
first posted at http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/
trackback: http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/2008/05/copying-and-pasting-content-from-other.html
Popularity: 5%
Canada: Your laptop/iPod/internet connection could be scanned for illegal content
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
“The (Canadian)federal government is secretly negotiating an agreement to revamp international copyright laws which could make the information on Canadian iPods, laptop computers or other personal electronic devices illegal and greatly increase the difficulty of travelling with such devices.”
Continue reading:
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=ae997868-220b-4dae-bf4f-47f6fc96ce5e#
Popularity: 5%
Help set Firefox 3 Download Record
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
For all those waiting for Firefox 3: help in setting a Guiness World Record by making Firefox 3 the most downladed software in 24 hours . The release date is yet to be announced, but you can go to this official page http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord/ for updates.
If you’re wondering what Firefox is all about, I pitch to you, the wonderful phoenix risen from the ashes of the vanquished Netscape of the First Browser War, ready in full battle glory for the Second Browser War with its third incarnation, against the mighty IE, Mozilla Firefox.
You may also be interested in the Firefox extensions I use, http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/2008/05/firefox-extensions-i-use.html
Don’t miss Mouse Gestures. It is too good to miss.
Popularity: 5%
Firefox extensions I use
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
A post on the Firefox extensions I use:
http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/2008/05/firefox-extensions-i-use.html
http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/
Popularity: 5%
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