What if Gmail goes paid?
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
What if Google starts charging for its services? Or for that matter if a Microsoft-Yahoo merger creates just 3 major players in the email/instant messaging/search industry(AOL being the other) leading to a situation most suitable to introduce paid services?
All industries go through the phases of acquisition/mergers/consolidations and then shoring up of prices. In fact, there was a time when online services almost went paid, with even Yahoo towing that line for its mail service, only to back off at the last moment(1998/99/2000 I guess). I remember seeing a newspaper ad announcing that they would still continue to be free to use. The logic was that new mail providers would keep coming up, so charging for mail will drive users to those that offer them free of charge. My friend who had an account with usa.net lost it, because he didn’t want to pay for it, now usa.net is a ‘professional’ paid email service.
But Google was founded for that very cause, so to say - ‘Don’t be evil’… So it won’t make sense if they do start demanding money for everything. I am slightly paranoid having lost my hotmail account once because of inactivity about 10 years back. Those were the days of the dialup and new kiosks. I clearly remember pledging to create one account on all major websites, having lost a few attachments and emails. Today those forwards are still doing the rounds making me feel like an idiot for cringing over the emails then.
As we associate ourselves increasingly to Orkut, Facebook, Myspace(the latter two which I don’t use) and services provided by the conglomerates, there is an ever present danger of the unexpected happening. Many are already predicting the downfall of Google.
Whatever happens, I’m just not ready to lose my email account again.
first posted at http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/
Popularity: 9%
What of your online life after you are no more?
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
The untimely death of a couple of young bloggers got me thinking again. What will happen to your online social life after you are no more? Many of us are increasingly having multiple accounts on websites, own domains, making our presence felt to people who we know only as an alias…. Suddenly, without notice, if we were incapacitated in some form, who would take charge of them? First things first, hacking into mail accounts will be difficult, do you think it is feasible to contact the web host and convey to them that one of their customers is dead, and that they reveal the passwords? Who would they do it to? Why should they? Will it be any different from a con artist stealing your passwords? Rather than cheap mail passwords, I am mainly concerned about sites which are maintained by a single person or two people, which are tremendous sources of information, mostly blogs, like snopes.com.
The web is a relatively new phenomenon; since we are the second generation to use the web, it will be some time before a norm appears for our online ‘assets’ to be passed on to our peers/descendants. It looks like we will have to write a will now itself, so that our online life can be shared with whomever we want to. As of now most free websites usually do not pull down inactive accounts, but it is too soon to say that. To think of it, with something like 9 mail accounts and countless numerous other website passes, I will need to put all of it down somewhere so that it will be accessible only when required. But do we again need to reveal our mail contents? What use will it be? Are all these considered assets worthy of some value?
Not to forget the contents of the laptop/cellphones.
On the one hand, it is interesting to watch how protocol will work itself out regarding passwords and stuff; on the other it is scary that it will one day happen to you. The day your peers realise that not only has an online presence died, but also………
first posted at http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/
Popularity: 8%
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
Reposted here, with permission, from
“From the Dog’s mouth”
“Nitt-i-tude Test”
Well this was also one post which should have come out earlier ,during my engg days at NIT Trichy. But better late than never.
Ever wondered whether you were really made for the campus. Maybe a separate grading system to measure the degree of ‘NITT’itude in you. Well, worry not!
Here’s is a set of questions, which demand absolutely no use of your hard-earned engg knowledge, so to speak and no test preparation. The grading system is in +’s and –‘s (I hope you understand, + means more and - is less).
1.At 8.30 in the morning you
a)Are in bed wondering which world are you in, trying hard to reach out for the irritatingly loud alarm clock. (+ 4)
b)Have finished Splashing deo all over your unclean body and wear the same T-shirt. (+10)
c)Are trying hard to recollect what your bicycle looks like while searching for it among the ones fallen down… (-1)
d)..you realize you don’t have one and look for someone else to give you a lift (-2)
e)Are in the classroom, prancing to and fro, waiting for the teacher to come (-50)
2. In class you normally
a)Fight with the others for the first bench and then sit down to take notes (-100)
b)Are relishing “Tiger” biscuits, sitting in the last row. (+ 10)
c)Are halfway through ‘5 point Someone’. (+15)
d)…And the prof catches you(-15)
e)Wake up just in time for the attendance call.(+20)
f)Irritate the guys sitting beside you by pretending to enjoy the lecture and scribbling in your only book. (+100)
3. In the Octa User lab you generally:
a) Go to the SUN user lab. (-5)
b)… By mistake (-1)
c)Search for your name in the placement site (list of placed students) even 3 months after your placement and get happy once more. (+ 5)
d)Check the online silver notice board for the (supposed)movie in the trical audi, the next Saturday. (-10)
e) Do programming (-∞)
f)Play “Stick-cricket” for 2 hours on the trot (0 if you don’t have a PC in your hostel room, -20 if u have one)
g) Take printouts of your topper’s assignments (+25)
4. In the College Internet lab you:
a) Are trying hard to achieve your longtime goal of 20000 scraps, 800 friends, and 1 fan. (+2)
b) Read the online edition of ‘The Hindu’. (-50)
c) Open wikipedia and start mugging pages for the forthcoming inter-college quiz. (-100)
d) Memorize names of US universities and their disciplines (- 5)
e) Search for your house verandah on google earth (-∞)
f) Piss off the people waiting for their turn by playing the irfan pathan hat-trick on Youtube at least 10 times.(-15)
g) Annoy your ‘neighbours’ by playing the your favourite hindi song at full blast on your elephant earphones.(- 200 )
5. In the college mess you are:
a) Discussing your CAT scores (-50)
b) Draining out the excess oil from the curry (+15)
c) Working out strategies for CounterStrike (+25)
d) …Which you started playing yesterday (-125)
e) Fighting with the mess-anna for an extra gulab jamun. (-5)
f) Searching for the paneer in the panner-parathaa, wondering why it is called so. (+ 500)
g) …And you find it at last (+ 1000)
6. The first thing you did after placements was
a) Nursed your battered n bruised backside, due to the ‘love’ showered on you by your dear friends. (+10)
b) Rushed to the ATM, to treat your friends. (+20)
c) Went to octa internet lab and changed your orkut profile name and used the company logo as ur display pic. (-5)
d) Wondered how many girls would be with you in the company. (-6)
e) Made a face as though you expected to screw up the interview and start boasting on how you overcame all odds. (+1 if less than 10 people got thru along with you, - 100 if more than 50 got thru)
g) Tried to look sad and forlorn over the company’s pay package. (-200)
7. According to you, the library
a) Is a place where you sit and study, refer or take books from. (-1000…)
b) Is a place where you get to see,touch and feel rare, centuries-old manuscripts without even having to pay entry fee. (+5)
c) Cough, Cough, Aaaa..Aaaa.. Choo!!! (+ 1000)
d) Er..i don’t know. I am still asking people for directions (+15)
e) Library, you said?? (Long pause).. Is it some kind of a zodiac sign??? (+16)
8. Which of the following would you become, if (god forbid) you werent
recruited in the campus placements?
a) The xerox shop anna: Ever-ringing cash counters (+100)
b) The Gate Anna(Roadside dhaba): I wont need to give any second invitation to my customers. (+200)
c) The Bru shop anna: Night time is the right time. (+ 50)
d) The only stationery shop anna: Monopoly rules (+25)
e) The laundry anna: As long as no one bathes, its business all the way for me. (+ 20)
f) Become treasurer or Co-treasurer for one of the college fests. (+ 10)
9. In case you answered (a) to the above Question what will your future plans be?
a) Buy the library and convert it into “The central Xerox center”. (+ 5)
b) Have a lifetime membership facility for regular customers. (+18)
d) Offer special gifts for the ones who duplicate material for more than 100 bucks
Per day. (+ 12)
e) “Buy one get one free” offers and festival discounts (+ 4)
f) Set up branches in the respective hostels itself (+ 1)
10. If your answer to the first Question was (b) what would your plans be?
a) Rechristen it. Give it a Fundoo name. (”Chill Gates” sounds much more appealing as opposed to plants, bamboo shoots, bananas,leaves etc) (+1)
b) Have my Best menu on the Saturday nights (??), at low costs, knowing that the mess food on Saturdays sucks bigtime. (+ 15)
c) Special placement-season offers. A 30% discount for guys offering their first-job treats and 50% discount for second-job treats. (GPA and pay-scale no criteria) (+25)
d) Have a credit card, I mean, “I-card” system,! (+ 26)
e) Obtain a patent for a new product called “Dew lime”. (+1000)
11. If your answer to question one was (e), what would your plans be?
a) Launch a door-to-door delivery service. (-20)
b) Teach the hostel boys the virtues of cleanliness, washing and bathing (-100)
c) Stop interchanging clothes (+ 2)
d) Start recruiting boys and give them training. (-1)
Check your score and reply asap.
Regards
Vishwesh
posted by vishwesh at 10:29 AM on Apr 5, 2008
Popularity: 12%
Pritam, the copycat beyond compare
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
This is for all you Pritam fans who rave and rant about his ‘musical’ abilities. See for yourselves. More at http://www.itwofs.com. Click on Pritam on the right hand side of the page.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkuGm_7sWdA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_7eKlr15o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpl5146AAyU
Cheers
Popularity: 5%
April 01
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
:-)
Popularity: 5%
Elders: America vs India
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
Senior Citizen: So where are you from
Me: I’m from India, Sir (out of respect for the elderly man)
SC: Oh I see.. So what do you plan to do after finishing..
Me: Well, Sir, I don’t know, but I plan to go back to India after some time, my parents are back there, I need to take care of them too….
SC: Ah that’s very nice of you.. I asked another who was from India who said he’d work for a couple of years and go back to take care of his parents…
Me: Oh..
SC: If only children here too would take care of their parents like you do…
My heart sank.
This, was the stark difference between ’societies’. In the melee of being devoted to a job, many Americans ignore their own parents… The elderly barber proceeded to tell me how his wife, who was bed ridden, did not have their daughters come over to take care of them… That was when I realised how lucky we were to live in a culture where elders are respected and are taken care of well. Atleast, we can hope to do that. We must never forget that we are Indians with deep cultural ties and a lot is expected of us.
first posted at http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com/
Popularity: 6%
I love…
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
I love when it rains a lot. Especially when it pours. There’s nothing which enlightens you better than the smell of the earth drenched with rain after a hot day
I love it when it snows real hard. I love walking through the calf-deep snow, plodding your feet. If you want to imagine what it seems to stomp your way, recollect images of Rocky training in Siberia, in Rocky 4.
I love the summer dog days, when all there is during the day is sun, sun, sun. I love it either in the hills where the cool sunshine brightly lights up all that is around, with the occasional breeze albeit of lower density - or in the plains where it gets all sultry leaving you feeling like in heaven when coming back home after playing or roaming around mid-day. To experience this, you have to be in India. There’s nothing like the Indian summer. You like it too? I have a community in Orkut, I’m the only member though.
I hate it when I have to switch on the lights prematurely because of cloud cover/dark clouds. It gives an eerie feeling, caught in two minds, because it isn’t yet time for the lights yet its darker than usual.
I hate it, in the summer time when the indoor temperature is something like 20 deg C lower, because of the air conditioning. Especially some buildings in America, where you have to wear a jacket inside the building during summer. That is one of the worst things ever, feeling cold when all you wanted was to feel cool. It is ironical to come out of a building and be relieved to be back in the warm air again. The textile showrooms, in particular, advertise a chilly temperature to attract crowds, who do turn out to beat the heat. Count me out. I’m not game.
I hate it when the weather is in two minds. It should either be too cold, freezing, or should be real warm. Anything like 12-15 deg C is uncomfortable because its just not possible to wear proper clothes.
I don’t like it when it half-drizzles, not being able use an umbrella or put it away.
I love it when it’s cold at night, but you have a real cozy room and a cozy blanket.. the same feeling when you feel lazy to get up on a cold morning.
Mother Nature, I love you.
first published at http://abhijith1729.blogspot.com .
Popularity: 7%
Minesweeper is trying to convey something
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
Almost all of us reading this would have experienced Minesweeper, the game which comes free with the Windows operating system.
What makes me ponder hard and reason for lengthy periods of time is that no matter where you click, your first square will not be a mine. You may argue that it is obviously designed: a mine on a first click will make you less interested in the game. But, isn’t it a strange outlook in life? Every time you play Minesweeper, you are always given a chance to prove yourself on the first try - shouldn’t life also be like that? For your first try you should be forgiven; the latter steps shall determine if you have learnt from that first step - very much like Minesweeper.
From a game design point of view it means that the outlay of the mines on the field is undetermined till your first click, but life can’t be like that, swaying to your fancies.
Your first ‘click’… Always reprieved, no matter how bad a guess it may be….. Minesweeper is conveying a thought provoking message….
Popularity: 8%
East India Companies: A reversal of fortunes
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
Tata will soon lap up Jaguar and Land Rover, once very English, will soon have an Indian at the helm of all affairs. So much so for the haughty greedy Englishmen. I say, the politics of tomorrow will be commanded by those with people power; India fits that role but not China because it is ruled by narrow minded people(atleast that is what they portray).
Popularity: 7%
Mar01
Posted by Abhijith as Uncategorized
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Popularity: 8%
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