The search by time-frame filter has been used for Google Web Search. This filter has been there on their Blog Search and News Search but this is the first time I see this applied to their Web Search.Use this link to get to this new search page.

I'm sure people getting some good google juice(read page rank) are going to be upset with this. Blogs are here to be benefitted by this. Especially retaillers who might loose some customers as customers start to search by recently updated websites. Even Google might be stumbled by a different company's search algorithm in the future. Well, that's the game. Keep Playing !!

lazy geek | # | Comments (0)

Apple iPhone's live TV Ad named All the Parts, which is still being broadcasted, lists Google stock price as $510.00. Seems like a joke now, as Google stock is hovering around $700.00.

I do know it isn't but would like to think of this as, Apple teasing Google, in its own subtle way.

lazy geek | # | Comments (2)

Its nearly the nth time around that Google is doing exactly the opposite of what people expect. When techies cried about Google introducing social features around their products to beat facebook, they came up with OpenSocial.

Open Social is a set of APIs that any developer can use to produce web platform independent widgets and apps that can be used across social networking sites and monetized.

Then there was this GPhone talk that even pet dogs wished would come true. Instead of a physical GPhone, they slapped us again with Android, a free-to-use open source mobile OS that is now being actively worked on by techies around the world include China's biggest mobile phone provider.

So there is no GPhone atleast until 2nd half of 2008. I am ordering my Windows Mobile Phone from T-Mobile, like, right now.

Second time in the last two weeks, Google proves us that they aren't content with creating selfish stuff rather they are too greedy(in a good way) to become the center of the web technology.

Recommended Reading - Andy Rubin - The creator of Android.

lazy geek | # | Comments (3)

Looks like Walt Mossberg is upset with Google for something. He thrashes Gmail again, after nearly a year and half. And for every other sentence he compares and contrasts Yahoo Mail with Gmail and Hotmail. Even as one reads through it, its pretty obvious that the review is biased, big time.

From the review -

Unlike Gmail, which forces you to view your emails as bunched-up “conversations,” Yahoo Mail — like Hotmail — displays them as a standard email program does, sorting them by date, sender, subject or size.

Yeah, who said bunching-up emails are considered to be a cool Web 2.0 conversational feature. We still want to live in 1995.

lazy geek | # | Comments (7)

If I were to be an application in this weird weird world of Web 2.0(that's four Ws), I would be Gmail or Google Reader.

Gmail can also be called as old wine of email in today's Ajax world. But Google Reader, is set to become one of the most useful and dominant tools of the near future. The ever expanding world of the web has so much information in itself that its already too much for someone to handle and feeds are probably the only way(as of today) to get one's information world under control.

Dave Winer, the RSS champ, should be a happy man. We are going to see more and more people in the future joining the RSS club.

To read a thousand websites in one single app, it takes a neat reader with an unbeatable User Interface. Google steps in. Google Reader's version 1 and 2 are certainly masterminded applications with a good insight and understanding of the present web. I still remember what was written here when GReader's first version was introduced. Today Google Reader is undeniably the number one feed reader for the web, given that they just introduced a search bar also with it. Some users like Scoble track nearly 600 feeds through GReader already.

If you are newbie to the RSS/Atom/Feed world, just logon to Google Reader and subscribe to a bunch of sites. You might want to start with personal weblogs that will help you come back and login to GReader everyday. Also if you are a mobile internet user, Google Reader has a fantastic interface that you will be addicted to. I browse the reader, on my cellphone and that's how I read most of the tech blogs. It is such a darling of an app.

Check the Reader and I'm sure you will never come back here. Rather you would read this blog only through its feed. Truly, don't even bother to visit those personal blogs, especially the ones with 4 lines of blogpost and 40 advertisements blocks around it. There is no free lunch so don't provide free advertising dollars for those loser blogs. Make them earn it. If the content is really appreciable, check their site regularly else feed reader is should be more than enough.

There are also other extreme users who end with a lot of feeds but never read them. I'm a heavy GReader user and from the experience of using feed readers for quite some, here are some tips that I keep a check on the information overload.

1) Don't allow the count of unread posts on each feed to grow beyond 100. You will never read any of them. Instead mark them as read and move on. You are not losing anything, trust me. If you end up marking them unread for more than 5 times, just unsubscribe the blog. If you subscribe to feeds like Digg or Del.icio.us, they will grow beyond 100 in a single day. Be sure that you need them and you will read them in future, else unsubscribe right then.

2) Be truly diligent of what feeds you subscribe to. Just because a nerd around you bullies you by referring to Slashdot, you don't have to subscribe to it. Though how much ever you want to read the blog, you may not have time or the blog is awfully boring. Exercise your right of un-subscribing. Think of it as one way of taking revenge of blogs of boredom. No Mercy.

3) Make a habit to login once a day. If you aspire to be a go-getter of tech world, which is, as of today, nearly impossible, login to reader once a day and try to get rid of the posts by reading it. Procrastination is evil. By the time you ge to read about the 5th generation IPods, Jobs would have already introduced the 8th generation PODs and IPhones will cost $50 a connection. It's changing every nano-second. Read it once-a-day.

4) Read posts using the list-view. Not the expanded view. This will enable to read the title and then decide if you want to really read the post. Don't read all the posts of all the feeds. It's a crime of time. With that extra time, you can crack the solution of Petals Around Rose or watch Desperate Housewives Season 3 DVD, the dirty laundary edition with lots of extra footage !!

5) The last but the not the least(aargh...what a bad used-to-death cliche. Will someone ban those words - 'last but not the least'), don't have more 50 feeds to the max. If you are the owner of some gambling casino at Macau(not Vegas anymore), sipping martini in Honolulu, you can afford to read 250 - 500 feeds a day. For others, 50 hits the roof.

And yeah, don't bother to come to this blog, even though the blog has some nice random banners(are they ?) and no ads whatsoever. Read the feed.

lazy geek | # | Comments (3)

Its 10:42 pm PST on Sep 05 and Google has been down for the last few minutes. I am unable to reach any of its services under google.com domain. Blogger.com still works but no search queries are going through. What Why When ? Any clues ?

I may be too silly to jump on this but can't see google(of all domains) go down.

Updates

10:56 pm : It's still not up. No word of google being down at technorati. Is it just for me ? Should I sleep now or what ?

10:59 pm : Gmail works but not Google.com. A friend on GTalk tells me he is able to query google's malaysian version and international one also. Its probably my ISP. It has been couple of years since I've done such frantic updates to posts.

11:08 pm : Google.com works like sweet now. No re-starting of PC, not even the browser. Still no idea on what why & when. Anyway, who cares now.

11:17 pm : Not working again. What the heck ?

11:18 pm : Works.

11:30 pm : Nope.

lazy geek | # | Comments (5)

Do that Hindi typing with Google - Indic Transliteration. Classy.

We want it for Tamil. We want it for Tamil, இல்லனா மவனே பகிலு பிகிலுட்டுக்கும்.

lazy geek | # | Comments (18)

The wait for GNetwork and/or GPhone starts now. Ain't that ultra cool.

Update Aug 03 - GPhone is linux based, releasing in 2008 and if you are a t-mobile customer, hang in there. It's coming.

lazy geek | # | Comments (3)

Before you checkout the Checkout, Google recently updated it's feed reader, Google Reader. And it truly rocks. Truly. It's now way better than what Bloglines has to offer. Initially when they hastily introduced Reader, the code was broken and it didn't even work on Firefox. While they fixed those issues over a period of 6 months their recent release is probably the biggest. And they fixed the biggest issue of subscription interface. It's now easy too unsubscribe from one or more than one feed.

On the other hand, Checkout seems to be the Paypal killer(like the way media terms it). I don't think Paypal can be killed as easily as they think. It can be treated as competition to paypal. Hotmail's Sabeer Bhatia tried out a much more advanced concept of unified shopping cart, which was called Arzoo. For some reason, it didn't do magic in the market and he took it easy after that.

lazy geek | # | Comments (9)

I've been looking for this a long long time. The first time I saw this documentary was couple of years back on Discovery channel(or was it NGC). Since then I have been looking for this and finally found it at Google Video. One of the pleasures of browsing the net at wee hours of morning, like 3:56 am on a saturday.

This documentary, The Lost Temples of India, talks about Raja Raja Chola and how he built the Tanjore Big Temple. Running for over 52 minutes, this is pure treasure, especially if you love the temples and their architectures. There is a lengthy dramatization on how they would have moved the 80 ton single stone to the top of the gopuram. Those 360 degree helicopter shots of Tanjore Gopuram explain in detail the class of architecture used. Just amazing.

I'm positive that it would be worth the time spent.

lazy geek | # | Comments (25)

So this is what you could do. Stand before your webcam, run a song in the background and lipsync to it with some dance movements. Once your upload this video on Google Video and tag it for Google Idol competition, chances are you could be voted as the next Google Idol.

Out of the numerous Google Idol videos I watched, this is one gracious performance. Lynne and Tessa dance and lip sync for the famous Barbie Girl number. You have watch more at Google Idol.

lazy geek | # | Comments (10)

If you are looking to use Google Notebook, it's live now.

lazy geek | # | Comments (6)

Google releases four new products today. Some of them are still not online. Via Google Press.

Google Co-op. A community where users can contribute theirknowledge and expertise to improve Google search for everyone.

Google Desktop 4. Beta version with features to access Google Gadgets.

Google Trends. Google Finance charts meet Google Zeitgeist . Pretty interesting analysis from Google Labs.

Google Notebook. You know this. Scatch pad, to clip text images or whatever. Will be out next week. Currently sthrowing a 404 error.

lazy geek | # | Comments (1)

If you are a Gmail lover, you would want to have gmail work for your domain, just like the picture above. Though I've been having this domain[lazygeek.net] for over 3-4 years now, I have hardly used the webmail function that comes with it. Reason, the user interface of webmail apps suck. And they dont even come close to a traditional web centric email like Yahoo. It's certainly fun to use your own domain's email.

Over the a month back, when Google started providing this gmail for a custom domain, I was thrilled to check it out. But as expected, I delayed applying for it. Last week, I applied and got approved for it yesterday. That was a real quick from Google.

All you need to do is apply here with your Gmail ID, your domain name amd a phone number. If approved you would be allotted a page like this and you can start using your own email address. You would be using the GMAIL and GTalk's user interface to manage email/spam. I was allowed to setup 25 free email IDs for lazygeek.net and I have ability to manage the users. Its certainly a different experience to manage your own domain's email on GMAIL. Though I would still continue to use my gmail address as the primary conatct, one could also send mails to guru@lazygeek.net.

lazy geek | # | Comments (1)

Another day of breakthrough for the Business Intelligence community. Cognos, the top notch BI vendor, will release its latest version Cognos 8 BI powered with Google's One Box search. This combined effort would ease the process of delivering answers to on commonly asked business metrics.

What could have been reached only by creating a simple list report or by a complex multi-dimensional cube can now be googled. I mean 'Googled'. What a 'wow' factor is ? Imagine if you are the CFO of an enterprise and you would want the average sales of a particular region compared to the last few years. In the present world, a BI developer would essentially create a report/graph and deploy it over the web. The CFO would have to login into the intranet, run that report and wait for the results to come back. Now all that he would do is to type in the search box is Avg Sales - Seattle compare 2002-2005(or something like that). The result would pop up with a google speed. What would rest on the BI developer would be create the report and create appropriate meta tags to reach to this metric. It would create a world of googleable metrics.

I'm excited more than Cognos itself for such a thought hasn't flashed before. Even if it was flashed it wasn't implemented. It looking forward to work on Cognos geared with Google. This would certainly change the way how enterprises look at BI solutions. And that is a great step towards warehousing the world.

P.S - On a seperate note, Why Microsoft and Oracle want to be your one-stop shop for BI. Also, an interesting interview with Sohaib Abbasi, CEO Informatica.

lazy geek | # | Comments (1)

Google Calendar was just released[via]. There is no official blogpost from Google on this.

Per Google style, it is still in beta. First impression, very cool. From the UI it seems that going forward, it will be tightly integrated with Gmail.

lazy geek | # | Comments (11)

Google's new enhanced Firefox Toolbar which was released yesterday has this amazing Safe Browsing feature that alarms you when you step into an unsafe webpage. So if you are using this feature, which is enabled by default, you probably should read more.

To enable this Safe Browsing feature, all the URLs you visit is sent to Google to match with the blacklist it maintains. This is not an issue at all. Don't blow your heat here. If you don't want Uncle Google to keep a watch on the URLs you visit, disable this option and peace will be established. Just in case you are fine, just like me, here's another catch which I found while reading the Google Toolbar Privacy Policy. Interesting -

Your copy of Google Toolbar includes a unique application number. When you install Google Toolbar, this number and a message indicating whether the installation succeeded are sent back to Google. Also, when Google Toolbar automatically checks to see if a new version is available, the current version number and the unique application number are sent to Google. The unique application number is required for Google Toolbar to work and cannot be disabled.

Google can now uniquely identify you and your browser with this. Coupled with the Safe Browsing feature, you could be telling Google the URLs you visit at any given point in time alongwith your IP and stuff. Ofcourse any ISP already knows all this. But if you are a stickler for privacy, you might want to be aware of this.

What google should be doing here is to download the blacklisted URLs explicitly into the desktop alongwith the toolbar. So it can avoid recieving every URL to check with the blacklist. Any updates to blacklist can be updated on the client's machines automatically. I'm surprised that Google didn't think about this possibility at all. With this app rolled out, Google is all set to enter the similar wave of privacy issues which led to initial discontinuing Google Web Accelerator. Google Luck Google.

P.S - I'm planning to digg this post to see if there is any 'digg effect' at all. Digged.

lazy geek | # | Comments (12)

Google becomes 'maama' with Google Romance. Fun awaits.

lazy geek | # | Comments (5)

Looks like someone hacked into Google Blog. Just few minutes back, saw the hacked entry on bloglines from the Google Blog feed. Was suprised and took a snapshot. When I got to Google Blog to see what had happened, they have a post that they are back. Yet another Blogrrrrr....

P.S - Seems like a student booked googleblog as he recieved a 404 when he visited Google Blog. Here's the original hack shot. And they also digged it.

lazy geek | # | Comments (5)

Google Finance was announced yesterday, on the first day of spring.

Just a simple search for Google on this finance site takes me to this page that gives a complete picture of that company. Similarly one could seach for and get the bio for any company, just like Yahoo Finance.

What's interesting is that, on this company bio page, for every company, there is a section named blog posts. The latest blog posts about that company are being pulled through blogger search. Groovy.

P.S - Changes and Changes. Some ten minutes back, when I took a snapshot for reference, this was how Google Finance looked. 5 minutes later this is how it looks. That's when you know the guys at Bangalore are rushing with the changes before the sun rises at New York. Good luck guys !!

lazy geek | # | Comments (6)

Chris Pirillo is on a two week Googlefasting. And it's Day 8 today.

Googlefasting seems to have caught the fancy of blogosphere[via]. Are you fasting ?

lazy geek | # | Comments (8)

[Source - Time]

This Time issue featuring The Google Guys is a collectible if you are a Google fan. Coming in a crucial time when some of Google's customers have starting looking at it critically, after the recent conflict with DOJ.

Though some of the stuff written might seem liked rehashed information, its very well written. Makes me think if it was ghost written by John Battelle, who is probably the most informed guy on Google after Danny Sullivan.

And yeah, you have to sit through a commercial to read the entire article on Time online. I am positive it's worth every bit.

lazy geek | # | Comments (12)

So the Google PC turned out to be a rumor. May be its not released, just now.

The hottest show in town was Larry's keynote address at the International Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas. Nearly the entire tech world was waiting for a huge announcement from Google. And yeah, Larry announced that Google Video will become an open video marketplace, where people can buy or rent videos.

Also the Google dudes have come up with a bundle of software that can downloaded at one go. Check out Google Pack. Fron Norton Anti-Virus to Adobe Acrobat, there are a host of Google Software that one could download and install for free.

Here's the live coverage of the Google Keynote with Larry Page and Robin Williams. Yes, Robin Williams.

lazy geek | # | Comments (7)

Here comes the most awaited and much rumored Google PC.

If only what the LA Times story turns about to be true, which we would find out in a couple of days, Google PC is certain to trigger a revolution of Cheap PCs. All we do until then is hang-on and watch the show. From the LA Times report, Industry Feeling Presence of the 800-Pound Google -

Google will unveil its own low-price personal computer or other device that connects to the Internet.

Sources say Google has been in negotiations with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., among other retailers, to sell a Google PC. The machine would run an operating system created by Google, not Microsoft's Windows, which is one reason it would be so cheap - perhaps as little as a couple of hundred dollars.

Bear Stearns analysts speculated in a research report last month that consumers would soon see something called "Google Cubes" - a small hardware box that could allow users to move songs, videos and other digital files between their computers and TV sets.

Larry Page, Google's co-founder and president of products, will give a keynote address Friday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Analysts suspect that Page will use the opportunity either to show off a Google computing device or announce a partnership with a big retailer to sell such a machine.

More reading -

- Talk Mounts of Google Computer
- The Google Box
- Google News on Google PC
- The Google PC…why not?
- Technorati on Google PC

lazy geek | # | Comments (8)

Steve Rubel leisurely wrote a step-by-step hack to read some of O'Reilly's book at Google Books.

Finally Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch had to interfere and comment that all he discovered wasn't hack at all and its just how Google Books and O'Reilly Publishers wanted the book to be available.

Been following these blogs for a long time now and Steve's blog was specially very informative with some fabulous pointers. It was in bad taste to write a step-by-step hack. Especially Rubel has been pointing out to people who are plagiarising his blog and now he has steps to hack a Google site. That sounded pretty childish.

Another reason, I wasn't comfortable with that post was that, people who had no idea about Google Books are waging a virtual war against Google for making the offline world accessible to the online world. While Google is trying to fight out these wars, security holes and such hacks would only increase the dis-belief on the whole venture. And I think a noble cause has to be atleast left alone if not encouraging it.

lazy geek | # | Comments (7)

John Battelle the author of The Search, which was named as one of the Best Books of the Year 2005 by Economist, predicts Web 2006.

His prediction about Google -

Google will stumble, some might say badly, but it will be significant. How? My money is on its second or third major deal - something on the order of the recent AOL deal. It may well be a loss (perceived or otherwise) in the Google Book Search case. Or it might be the privacy issue. This is not to say the company is going to fail, or the stock, for that matter. Just that it will face a major test in 2006 that it won't pass with flying colors.

I am wondering why Google would be failing in the Book Search case. I've been munching a list of reasons as to why Google is actually doing better in the Book Search case. Given John's fabulous insight on Google and their business, I'm forced to assume that his prediction might actually turn out right.

But then, Google Books is an awesome service to connect the offline and online world of Books. Why would they fight against it ?

lazy geek | # | Comments (4)

Google Base, which was in the midst of rumors last month is finally out, much as expected. First off, they(I mean Google) don't seem to publicise it as a Craigslist killer.

Though the features of Google Base are just as close to being a Craigslist, Google wants to re-name their wanted forums as searchable place for content owners. And I do think they have features beyond the scope of what Craigslist does. So if you go by their definition of Google Base, you might be a little confused but by the time you start exploring it, you would know what it is.

It certainly is a wonderful service with lots of unknown areas where it would be helpful. And its services like this that would make Google's customer loyalty stronger. Don't be surprised that the Google Base home page sports a note on Chicken Tikka Masala. Thats probably because its has an Indian product manager for Google Base.

On the other hand, Google Analytics was released a couple of days back. Its now being used on this blog and I'm yet to see some tangible output from Analytics.

P.S - This might make a few angry, but then, the sivakasi post is now posted on Google Base. Vijay goes to Google !!

lazy geek | # | Comments (6)

[Image - News.com]

CNet writes that Google is hiring like 1999. Yeah, we all remember those days. Other than the tech magazines, I was watching the newspapers filled with full page ads from Rediff and Sify. The news of even etoys.com making it big in the NASDAQ, CISCO at its all time high, one .com startup getting $20 m venture capital everyday. We thought it the online world is packed with roses and suddenly, we met the slump at our doorsteps.

Google from 'those' days has been steadily increasing its dominance and steadily progressing towards organizing the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

From the CNet column, Google hiring like it's 1999 -

Still, it would be difficult to argue that Google is hiring irresponsibly like an old dot-com, considering its sales are keeping pace with that work force growth. Google's third-quarter revenue nearly doubled from a year ago to $1.58 billion, with a net income of $381.2 million.
Google "is so incredibly democratic. It's like an electromagnet for talent," Arnold said. "I think it's the new Bell Labs...If I were 35, I'd be begging them to hire me."

lazy geek | # | Comments (4)

If you are using GMAIL(and I presume you should be), skip reading this post. By now you should have seen the link from Gmail main page. Paul Buchheit, a Googler who was the primary GMAIL engineer, talks about the birth of email / gmail. Also hints about the next batch of GMAIL updates. Looks like they are trying to bring in the Folder concept, which I think sucks. And the increasing number GMAIL users using greasemonkey's script to delete mails must be pushing Google to get that feature included.

From the post, Guess what just turned 34? -

Of course that wasn't the only reason why I wanted to build Gmail. I rely on email, a lot, but it just wasn't working for me. My email was a mess. Important messages were hopelessly buried, and conversations were a jumble; sometimes four different people would all reply to the same message with the same answer because they didn't notice the earlier replies. I couldn't always get to my email because it was stuck on one computer, and web interfaces were unbearably clunky. And I had spam. A lot of it. With Gmail I got the opportunity to change email – to build something that would work for me, not against me.

lazy geek | # | Comments (5)

Google's third quarter results released on Oct 20 is fueling its growth. It's shares nearly touched $100 billion before settling at $98 billion. This could probably a record of reaching $100 billion market cap than any other US company before.From Bloomberg -

Google Inc. approached $100 billion in market value and analysts rushed to raise their price estimates after the company's results soared past the most optimistic of expectations.

Analysts at three firms including Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. said the stock may climb to $450 from today's $339.75. At that price, Google would have a value double that of Yahoo! Inc. and vault into the top 20 largest U.S. companies, worth more than Coca-Cola Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.

But if you live by advertising, you can die by advertising. If there were a downturn in the Internet ad market for any reason, Google wouldn't be able to meet Wall Street's expectations. Its stock, perhaps already inflated with a price-to-earnings ratio of close to 90, would lose some luster. (Yahoo!'s PE is in the 30s, and Microsoft's is in the 20s.) Google is well aware of this. In its latest quarterly report, the company warns that reduced ad spending "could seriously harm our business."

We all know its a function of trade cycle to bring down the value of an ever raising share price. While I'm positive, that Google's market share isn't a miracle, it still can out perform itself if the leaders are listening. Per the Slate column the biggest threat to Google is the percentage of revenue earned from internet advertising. Just a small drop in internet advertising by the companies and Google will be on it's way to get toppled. And that's probably why Google s working on several unconnected services other than internet search. Good Luck !!

lazy geek | # | Comments (3)

What an episode of Shakespearean romance that was. A fan expressed her love for the bowling star Zaheer Khan. Zaheer accepted that gracefully. We have Yuvraj alongwith the roar of audience playing the messenger. All this happening very spontaneously, thanks to the camera for catching on the big screen. Though it was for fun, this Google Video is a must watch. Anything can happen in a game of cricket. Especially in India.

P.S - If you are unable to watch the video in the previous link, it's available here and here.

lazy geek | # | Comments (17)

Time to dump Bloglines. I am a big fan of Bloglines like many bloggers but this is Google's feed reader and it has all the important features of a feed reader. I am sure they will keep adding rich features incrementally.

Google Reader has to itself the user interface which is just like any Google interface[except Groups], uncluttered. It has Ajax running behind giving the light-weight feel and more importantly you can add/mod/del feed subscriptions with ease. You can just export your Feed Demon's subscription list or Bloglines subscriptions as an OPML file and import it from the reader. More features on the Reader Tour.

It's now in beta's beta. The reader engine is partly broken. Some features currently don't work. Looks like they were in a rush to release this as a part of WEB 2.0 conference. Eventually, I'm positive it will become THE browser-based feed reader for the internet. Do give it a try.

P.S - Google Blog's post on Reader has Chris Wetherell as the author of the post. Chris is the massless guy and java script expert who was one of the programmers of GMAIL which has heavy Java scripts combined with XML, in the background.

lazy geek | # | Comments (2)

Google Maps is such a darling of a tool that people look to hack around with. First it was Housing Maps which hacks Google Maps and Craigslist.org entries to show "Homes for sale" at various locations of a city.

Then it was Chicago Crime which lists are-wise crime on a Chicago map. Personally, Bus Monster[Via JK] was a such a useful site combining Google Maps with real-time bus schedules to create a useful app for seattle bus travellers.

In days like these, a year's spending on oil might end up higher than the cost of the car, you need to be prudent of gas prices. I bumped across this Cheap Gas site which hacks Google maps to list cheap gas available in your city with full drill-down by cross street.

BTW, if you truly want to save money on gas, take a bus :)

lazy geek | # | Comments (4)

Yet another Google release. This one will certainly impress the bloggers and blog readers. The Google's Blog Search and Blogger Blog Search are one expcept for their URLs and User interface. This is one really long awaited search capability from Google and it has been finally out just today.

The snapshot above shows this blog listing with the blog update time. It's truly after 46 minutes I searched the blog search and was surprised at the real-time blog indexing done at Google. All that the blog pings is blogrolling blo.gs and weblogs.com. Google should be taking the real-time data and indexing the blogs accordingly. And as Search Engine watch says, Google defines blogs as sites that use RSS and other structured feeds and update content on a regular basis.

With this a major issue of blog search can be met with ends and many more such blog search capabilities await the blogging community.

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Vint Cerf, who co-designed the TCP/IP protocols(TCP/IP dudes !!) for the internet has joined Google. This isn't just one more on Google's payroll. It's a leap.

TCP/IP designer, VOIP plans, Free wireless internet, Mobile numbers for GMAIL sign-up. All these when cohesively brought together leaves a blue-print of Google's future plan.

lazy geek | # | Comments (8)

Robert Young as guest blogger in OM Malik's blog writes -

So what is Google's master plan? I believe they are once again going counterintuitive, but in a manner that hits Microsoft where it hurts most. Google will make Microsoft's entire strategic plan and mission, which revolves around the continued proliferation and dominance of the desktop PC operating system, obsolete by making Google itself the operating system. The model they are pursuing is very similar to Sun Microsystems' (Jonathan Schwartz's) vision of turning computing into a utility, like electricity. The only difference is that Google is already almost there.

It’s not too difficult for me to imagine a day, very soon, when I rely on Google for almost all my computing needs and I buy hardware devices based on such criteria. That’s the day Google will have become my operating system. We all know that the internet has a deflationary effect on the assets of every industry it touches, whether it be printing & publishing, media & entertainment, telephony, etc. If what I pose above is indeed true, Google is using the internet to systematically devalue Microsoft’s assets. Perhaps there will be a day on Wall Street sometime in the future that’ll be known as “Microsoft’s Black Monday.”

Ok, I'm a Google fan. But that doesn't mean I should accept Google can outdate Microsoft in no time. Microsoft has a huge dominance in the OS market and their enterprise applications are strong too. For Google to introduce an OS and make Microsoft obsolete in that area may nearly be impossible. One couldn't write off, though. We all know that by introducing small nifty pieces of software, Google is making baby steps towards that. But more than 2 decades of OS dominance cannot by sidetracked in a day. GoogOS, if introduced will gain more popularity than LINUX soon. But to become as compliant as Windows OS might take longer time than expected.

Meanwhile in India, if Novatium's $100 PC would create a computing revolution in India, such nifty offerings from Google would be more than expected. Om Malik's column on Novatium's PC revolution got me so inspired that I'm thinking why shouldn't Google take over providing all the software for those PCs free of cost. Though I'm not sure if Rajesh and his team have already tied up with anyone for software. It would be an unbelievable word-of-mouth goodwill for Google, if only they can sponsor software for this kind-of-network-PCs. How about calling the movement, No-cost software for the world's largest democracy. Shouldn't this be Google's master plan? Google, are you listening ?

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Just as I was speculating on the LA Times scoop yesterday, I was thinking it would be Wednesday before I would get to Google Talk. But Google Talk is out already. Download and talk your way to glory. No more messengers, just talk.

Just in case here's my talk id - lazygeek. Thanks to the quick email from Maverick.

BTW, the snapshot above was taken from google talk mainpage. Its a google satire. Look at what Anne has to say. Cool isn't it ??

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Google Desktop Search 2 was just released yesterday. It's seems like a quantum jump from the previous version of Google Desktop in terms of the front-end. This version of desktop search introduces a side bar aka content bar to give you quick look at the content you choose to view instantaneously. So you can glance you g(e)mail or read news and RSS based webclips, checkout weather and much more. This sidebar isn't new to the online world but interestingly due to its interactive nature, it can be treated as a sort of portal.

We have seen Google making baby steps towards the portal and content integration and this is one giant step towards that. Very intelligently the sidebar makes an entry without any introduction of Google Browser. Its been a typical Google move like before. Many a times Google has introduced revolutionary components under the nose of Microsoft. An entry point without even bothering the browser is certainly a tactical move for a company like Google which is yet to create a full-fledged portal.

All the above said features of the side-bar happens by collecting the user preferences and usage of internet. I am sure this product of Google wouldn't rake up another privacy issue like the Internet Accelerator of even Gmail. Google Desktop 2 has much more to do than the desktop search and the sidebar capabilities will definitely lure customers who shied away from using Desktop Ver 1, fearing privacy issues. Mind you, this Desktop Search 2 is still in beta. Checkout the plugins for Desktop Search.

There is also heavy speculation that on Wednesday, Google would announce an IM Chat application called Google Talk. A scoop that LA Times unleashed today. I'm not sure how many Skypians would GTalking from Wednesday. Get ready to GTalk.

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Check out more Google Dance 2005 pictures. Google Dance video clips is also here and here. Notice those lava lamp chairs. Ultra-cool.

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The Beta version of Google Toolbar for Firefox has been released. Not just that, there are also other firefox extensions by Google. Enjoy.

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[Click image to enlarge]

Yeah!!, truly mouthful, this time. All the restaurants in Bellevue. Thanks to Google Earth.

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Whenever we have a Hollywood flick like Armageddon or Phone Booth opens up from a top angle shot of planet earth and glides down by gaining speed to quickly narrow down on a busy New York street, we are awestruck. When a piece of code called Google Earth does the same thing in your convenience, you know those flicks are now a part of history.

Google has been talking about their version of Earth for sometime now. Earth is a 3 dimensional mapping tool of the entire earth provided by satellite imagery. It�s only when you download/install and execute the Google Earth you would understand that its not just baffling you with the graphics, it has just eased your life a little more.

Though we know this effort by Google isn't a NASA project of sending manned shuttles to outer space, this effort would touch thousands of peoples lives in the near future.

I just played around the Earth for about half hour and I'm already happy about it. The driving directions using Google Earth is brought about by combining its Maps and Keyhole's 3d imagery of earth. Though some may doubt, I was actually able to spot the bush behind my house.

The more Earth is put to use, the more we know what it is capable of doing. In the days to come, await surprising uses of Google Earth.

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If I had bought 100 shares during Google's IPO on August 19, 2004, at a price of $85/per share, my initial investment woud've been $8,500. At today's closing price, my investment would be worth $29,100. Thats a 242% increase in 10 months.

What started as a rebellious approach in 'going-public' has proven worthy for Google now. With $82.4 Billion market cap, Google is the most highly valued media company. Though I personally consider them as a technology company than their new born love for media, the Google guys take a pat for that. FYI, Yahoo is $27 billion behind them with strong content capabilities.

With this huge money pumping into Google, I'm sure there are better plans on using the money in making the life on net easier and better. Probably they will add 3 more gigs to your Gmail box before you wake-up tomorrow morning. Watch out, Google is on a kill !!

P.S - Appreciate Google for throwing money into research and summer projects with open source software.

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After long time in Pre-Beta testing GMAIL RSS webclips are up for the GMAIL which by itself is in Beta. So now you can customize the webclips which you want to see. Obviously as you can see from the screenshot, you can add your 'fave' RSS feeds. I hear you saying, Lazy, What a PR to put up your own blog rss there on the snapshot.

At this point, I am not sure what kind of a value addition it is but after Google starting to deliver RSS ads through Adsense, we might expect to see some ads appearing there too. In Gmail as you switch from one mail to another, the webclips like the Google Ads, keeps changing only to re-inforce the famous Apple Ipod Shuffle Ad, Life is Random.

P.S : Google's goes Yahoo with a personalized portal. Via Kinglsey.

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[GMAIL's Bottomless Graph]

This is old news if you have already checked your GMAIL today. So go-getters, skip it and move onto the next blog on your list.

You get an online storage space from Gmail as Google's engineers keep increasing the space to the undefinable capacity of infinity + 1. Now if that sounds like an exaggeration and if you are looking for a number in terms of storage space, make it 2GB. Can you see the impression of the Gmail's bottomless glass up on the image. That's the plan.

As of now you see a running number on the GMAIL page. If you haven't see, check that out. That means, you GMAIL account will have a storage space of the interger part of the number. As of now my GMAIL screen shows a running total of 1139.xxxxxx MB. That means, if you login to your account now and see the storage space available, it would be 1138 MB. It keeps increasing and isn't that an amazing way to say the speed of increase of storage space. Well crafted marketing strategy. Way to go, GMAIL.

As GMAIL completes a year since they thought a 1GB email account was a joke of the year on the same day of April 1st, GMAIL team kept adding features onboard such that they are close to what other email providers deliver. Just today, the rich text features have arrived making GMAIL richer. However, I still prefer to use gmail using plain text. Some people don't change.

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Why in the whole world the geeks go ga-ga on simple code snippet that resides on the toolbar of google at toolbar.google.com and only when downloaded, activated and clicked every single time, actually works. I am not even bothered about if Autolink is an evil in the goddamned wicked world of internet. I'm just concerned about how a simple thing because of it's bad naming, gets screwed up right royally even at it's beta version.

If you are completely unaware about the snippet and the toolbar stuff, here is a quick re-cap. Google's new toolbar beta release included a feature called Autolink. I am hell upset about the naming. Will come to that a little later. Soon after it's BETA release, the feature autolink becomes a top-rated keyword in blogosphere. Reason, top bloggers like Dave Winer, Scoble and others start criticising Google for introducing an evil called Autolink.

If you were to browse through an online library catalog and looking at the book list, you would find the ISBN number of that book published next to it. Let's assume it's there. And you are looking at a book named Idiot's Guide to Web Links, you see no more information about it. If you want to see more on this book, most probably you might hit Amazon and search for the title of the book. Instead, how would it be if Google would locate all the ISBN numbers on the web page and auto link you to the respective books on Amazon. Fabulous isn't it. Saves time and a dozen more clicks. Similarly for package delivery confirmation, Vehicle number[VIN] checking and ofcourse for the address linking, Google provides a solution on it's BETA version of it's new toolbar release. All this autolinking happens only if you follow these steps religiously,

a) Download Google toolbar.
b) Activate Autolinking option.
c) Click on Autolink button everytime you want the toolbar to provide autolinks for a particular page.

Now this Autolink is what some people call as Slippery Slope or Evil. Opinionated Bloggers have already taken sides on this debate. And it's still running full house. The point is, I don't see even traces of evil here. If a sane person downloads Google Toolbar, enables autolinking option on the toolbar and clicks every single time on the Autolink button when he needs to see the links, he needs Google to do autolinks. Where is the question of Google changing web content by providing links. It's just a code snippet that works on tthe local copy of the webpage on your machine. It isn't making a global change to the page on the servers. If you need it, you get it, else buzz off and keep off from coming to Google. One of the arguments that these Autolink critics offer is that Google might make this as an compulsory option in the subsequent releases of their toolbar and it would affect the ethics of web page linking. Now that you say can be seen as evil. As long as they provide an option to opt-out of this Autolinks, we are good to go. I am hoping for the kind of character, Google has displayed until day, as a company, they are trust-worthy.

Yet again Microsoft comes to picture. Their introduction of a similar[similar not same] linking procedure called Smart Tags was turned down by the industry analysts and hence was taken back. So the analysts want to take back this Autolink feature of Google as well. Until the time Google stays with the current ethics and integrity, their software would rock. If going public is going to change Google's way of the web, let Satan eat their pigeon ranking code and make a mighty burp. Peace.

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If you are the one[NEO], your google homepage will show up like this today giving you an invite to GMAIL. I never got one. This snapshot was from here.

But hurray, GMAIL is born.

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You probably knew this before but just for my bookmark. Google hires Mark Lucovsky, from Microsoft who was in the team which created Windows NT. What's next ?

The Autolink debate is here to say. But then accusing Google like this hurts a Google fan so badly. What the heck is wrong about world domination on the enterprise computing. After all we have seen the worst of domination already. Didn't we?

My stone aged laptop still loads Gmail without any issues. I bumped over this new feature of basic html interface for GMAIL only then. Looks like it's a pretty new feature.

The lakshman rekha between online and offline got erased. Ask the Google Desktop search how. With desktop search going live, I've become even more lazy. It was few months back since I dropped the idea of arranging files in folders. They are all there in my comp but only google know where.

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Google Code Jam 2005 comes to India. Java and C++ geeks, fold up you sleeves and get-set-go.

Google Maps [Beta, ofcourse] was out yesterday. And as expected it must have taken other map providers [yahoo and mapquest] by a huge surprise with it's draggable maps. For Google users in the US it's a huge welcome as Google maps is well integrated with Google Local. Even if you are outside US, give it a shot by typing in your very distant cousin's address who lives in either Dallas or the Bay Area. You would appreciate. I am hoping it would get better.

With 50 email invites to everyone, the assumption of GMAIL going live very soon, gets thicker. More.

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New York Times has a question, Is the Internet bubble half empty or half full ?. Wonder Why ? Google's ever rising stock and it's augmenting quarter revenues are the reasons. Again, Wonder Why ? The revenue from Google Adwords program, has just increased 122 percent from the previous year's fourth quarter. Even in the increasing threat of competition for search on the internet, Google is a true wonder. Am not just talking as a Google admirer but the numbers talk for themselves.

Google does a review of Adwords program during 2004. These slides not only talk about the improvements in Adwords but also about the people behind them. Interesting read. Do read.

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[Top - Eric Schmidt, Left - Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Pic: AP]

As CBS puts it, "Google has opened its doors, to let 60 Minutes Google them". In India we don't get CBS 60 minutes relayed through CNBC so it's only this internet update available.

This article, Defining Google, is yet another recall of history from how Google started in a converted garage with these two unassuming dudes and how it changed the life on internet. Certainly as a Google partisan it doesn't bore me to read their history again and again but what surprises is they live by their motto, Don't be evil, from the time of their existence.

Extracts -

Google has a brand image to maintain. And their image is they�re all about innovation and they�re all about the Internet, and they�re all about trust. They�re not about selling out. They�re not about getting rich quick. So you�ve got a culture like that; I think if anyone were to buy, you know, a new Mercedes convertible and drive around w