IndiBlogger: Save yourself from 'Blogger's Depression"

The question is: why does one blog? Don't get me wrong looking at the Adsense and AdBrite Advertisements you see on my blog! They are there because I am trying to see how true are the tall claims by Affiliate Sites about you making millions of dollars out of affiliations. They are there because I am trying to make sense of how much different Affiliate Sites pay for each link I permit them to put on techedIN. No Blogger has become a millionaire running advertisments on his/her blog. I am in total agreement with Nikhil Narayan when he says in an Interview given to Blogadda: "After accumulating a whopping 10 USD in over 3 years, I realised that no one clicks on those Google Ads even by mistake. Then I tried other ads like Komli andTyroo. The height of optimism was joining the Shaadi.com affiliate program through which I gained nothing but monthly emails that gave me hope that I will soon start earning. After enough failures, I took off all the ads."

Then, why does one blog? I think most of us blog with the hope that someone somewhere is going to read what we wrote and appreciate it. May be, I am not too sure about you. I blog with the hope that someone [as many 'someones' as possible] reads what I blog. At one point in life everyone wants to be a 'popular' writer and 'blogging' gives us that satisfying feeling that we have become one. I go and look at my Google Analytics Report at least once a day. I am on the top of the world when I see the 'visits' graph shooting up. I don't purposefully look at the bounce rate for the fear of 'blogger's depression'.

Talking about Blogger's Depression: I think I recently stumbled upon another way in which I can possibly overcome it. IndiBlogger - a blogger commuinty for Indian Bloggers that saves you from the fear of no one taking a serious look at your Blog. I joined the Community with the hope that more people are going to read what I blog. And I am not disappointed that I did. My Google Analytics Report shows me that IndiBlogger is now at the top of the list in my report on traffic through Referral Sites. I have also found that the bounce rate came pleasingly down a few days after I had created a profile on IndiBlogger.

There are a few things I liked about IndiBlogger, which I will share with you like I usually do:

1. They have this 'Blog Directory' where they list all the bloggers and their blogs once they join. It looks like they have this 'soft corner' for new bloggers or new members, which I think is a good thing. The most recent ones to join the community gets to be on the top of the 'Blog Directory' featured on the Home Page of IndiBlogger. 
2. In my attempt to take teachedIN to as many people as possible, I have tried many Blog Directories and Blogger Communities. Almost all of them are strict about you giving a reciprocal link to their site. I have instances where Directories have rejected my membership because I was not willing to give them a reciprocal link. Please do not misunderstand - it is not that I don't want to thank these Blog Directory Guys for giving me a space to showcase my Blog. It is more about my freedom to choose if I want to publicly display an affiliation or not. When you make reciprocal linking compulsory, you are forcing me to thank you.  I was happy to see that IndiBlogger does not insist on you giving them a reciprocal link. [Many a times a reciprocal link is like leaving a trail. Leaving a trail on-line is not always advisable.] I was happy to see that they permit you to choose if you want to display their badge or not. 
3. Another feature I liked about IndiBlogger is 'Blog Reviews' Of course, they do not entertain 'shameless self-promotion.' Asking for a 'Blog Review' is one way IndiBlogger satisfies those who are particular about promoting their Blog. Fact is, the more you participate in the forum on IndiBlogger, the more people will know you and come to read your blog. And if you don't have time to participate actively in the discussions happening on IndiBlogger, the next best thing is asking for a Blog Review. 
4. There is another way to increase your bandwidth and reach. IndiBlogger lets you build a network. You can add fellow bloggers to your reading list. It is a 'win-win' You can keep track of those people you like to read and you can also make people take note of you by following them. I think I got the first 'it-makes-me-happy-you-read--it-because-you-wanted-to-read-it' comment on techedIN, after I joined IndiBlogger.
5. They also have this IndiBlogger Ranking and IndiVine. Ya, IndiVine is an adaptation of Grape Vine. I think it gives you a categorized list of Blog Posts. I think they have an option to rank posts too. I did not have an opportunity to make sense of IndiVine so far as it is undergoing a major revamp as I am writing this. But, I think I'll like that feature too.

IndiBlogger also arranges Blogger Meets. This tells me, here are a group of people who take the idea of supporting bloggers seriously!

Page Hunt: Microsoft tries to get Human Computation Service for Free!

Microsoft is trying all that it can to make Bing popular. The latest from its arsenal is Page Hunt. Some say it is a 'clever' twist on 'human computation', meaning to say it is a twist on Google and their Quality Raters. It seems that Google employs people to rate the Search Results it generates and now Microsoft and their Raman Chandrashekhar have come up with Page Hunt [Is the name another twist on Google's Page Rank?] to help Bing rate Search Results.

For starters, Page Hunt is a game! I don't know if you can call it a game or getting your work done by someone else free of cost!

Microsoft says:

This Game is like search in reverse: you are shown a web page which you have to hunt down using queries sent to Live Search.

 Now, the idea is very simple. When you go to the Page Hunt page, you are shown a web page. All that you got to do is type the keyword you will use to reach the page shown to you and hit Bing! If you use one of the most popular keywords used by Bing Users to reach the page in question, you get points. If you don't, you don't get points. Which ever way Microsoft gets what it wants! It will know what key word you will use to reach the page in question.

I tried the Game and let me tell you it was quiet boring. To me it looked more like work than play. Now, helping Microsoft fine tune their Search Engine is serious work. I think they should consider paying people for doing that. After all none of their products are given for free to users and even if they give it free of cost, they do so because they have a competitor. I am sure if Google were ran by Microsoft, we would be paying to use it. Now that Google is there, Microsoft offers Bing for free. And everyone knows that is done with a hope of capturing the on-line advertisement market. The better the search results on Bing, Microsoft hopes that more people will start using it and that means more income from 'sponsored links.' Since Bing is about Revenue Generation, it is not fair that Microsoft seeks to fine tune their search results for free. They should be paying the Page Hunt Users like Google pays its Quality Raters.

Off the Topic 1: As I was reading Microsoft's write-up on Page Hunt on Raman's page, I found Page Hunt connected to Live Search and not Bing. [On Page Hunt Page I see Bing and not Live Search] Is Microsoft still confused if it is Live Search or Bing they go for?

Off the Topic 2: I am just wondering, is not 'Human Computation' equal to fooling people? All the while I was thinking Google Search is completely automated and I was always amazed at this. And now that I know it is human beings who are weeding out bad results, Google's Search Technology does not sound great any more? On the contrary, please read what signor john wrote in reply to a stub that doubted Google's Search Technology:

GoogleGuy (when he used to hang out here) once explained that quality evaluators are used for benchmarking purposes. In other words, the 10,000 evaluators aren't there to weed out sites per se; their job is to help train Google's "black box" by identifying examples of sites that need weeding.

As for why Google would have to keep creating new filters at this stage of the game, I'd say it's because:

1) Search technology doesn't stand still.

2) SEO doesn't stand still, either. 

George Orwell, 1984, Amazon.com and Kindle: A Historical Irony!

George Orwell and his famous novel 1984. Amazon.com and their latest publication hype, Kindle. Who would have thought that July 17, 2009 was going to connect them in the most bizarre and paradoxical way ever? On July 17, 2009, Amazon.com remotely removed copies of 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell from Kindle because of some copyright dispute they had with someone.

Little would have George Orwell thought that one day he and his book are going to be the victims of a Big Brother when he wrote about the "memory hole" Of course Orwell was talking about censorship. I think what Amazon did was worse than censoring and it serves them best to have taken George Orwell away from the Kindle Users. They allowed a historical irony by doing so!

What does it mean when Amazon removes a book from Kindles without the permission of the owners? It means 'you must be afraid' This means Amazon has the power to remotely control your Kindle. Now, that is not good news. If Amazon has the power to control your Kindle, what about Microsoft? Do they have the power to control your laptops and PCs? If Amazon can remove a book from your Kindle, what about service providers like Google or Yahoo? Do they have the power to meddle with your emails and documents, you have on-line? It worries me when I think that soon we are all moving into a more modern version of 'cloud computing.'

I remember an English Film I had seen long ago. I don't remember the name of the film. But I remember that it was about robots. There were robots in every house. And the Government introduced a more advanced version of robots and gave one to each family. Little did they know that the new robots were spying on the families. And one fine morning, the Government took control of all the robots centrally. The film was something like that. But I remember the protagonist, who was always against the idea of having a robot in his house. No one saw his point untill it was too late. The Amazon Kindle Episode reminded me of the film.

My tryst with 4 Shared!

Of course, whenever I want to find something I go to Google, like most of you do! I type in what I want Google to find out for me, hit search and wait. 75% of the time the Google Guys come up with what I am looking for. I did the same thing when I wanted to find out if some of the songs I liked were available for download.

Let me tell you, for most of my favourite songs, Google was a disaster. Of course Google gave me what it thought are the most relevant of all the results. But that was not the point! I wanted to download these songs. But Google took me to many sites that do not have a download link. [I am not sure if that is a part of Google Policy!] Most of them had a link to another site where, I was told, I could download the song I was looking for. The site that the link took me to had a link to another site that allowed me to download the song. It was a never ending line of cross links! Exasperated!

That was when I stumbled upon 4Shared. It is an online storage system, where you can store and share your files. It lets you store any kind of file and has got a 100 GB file storage option, if you are a paying member. You are right, you can be only a paid member on 4Shared. The free membership lasts only for 30 days.

What I liked about 4Shared is not the fact that I can store my files online. I live in India, and in spite of being one of the prominent IT hubs, we are not always sure if we can access Internet all the time. So I prefer to store my files on my computer and not anywhere else. If I have to share files and collaborate, I already have a Google Docs Account. I don't usually upload anything other than Office Documents and Goolge Docs is the only people I trust with my Office Documents.

What I liked about 4Shared is not the fact that it permitted me to log in using my Google Id. Now, I don't use my Google Id to log in on any site for the fear of spam and hackers. I'll not use my Google Id unless I know Google approves 4Shared. Even if I use my Google Id to log in, I know that my honeymoon with 4Shared is going to last only for the 30 Days Trial Period. Because, the way things are, I don't have a credit card or pay pal account to pay 4 Shared.

Following are a few things I liked about 4Shared:

1. I liked 4Shared because it permitted me to download shared files even without a membership and logging in.
2. It tells me that the file is virus free, so at least for time being I don't have a virus-phobia when downloading from 4Shared.
3. It keeps the downloading simple. I didn't have to worry about where a link on 4Shared would take me to! It was almost like I know where I was going. They have kept the user interface neat, straightforward and simple.
4. It has a cool search engine. I don'y know if Google powers it. But I know that using the search on 4Shared I could find many of the songs and videos I wanted.
5. It gives you a preview option. You can see your videos or hear your songs before you download them.

I don't know if 4Shared has enough Premium Members to cover their expenses. But I know that I got most of the songs I wanted!

The seven flaws of Twitter?

MarketWatch's  columnist John C Dvorak seems to be too irritated with the news of people looking at Twitter as a new source of news, in real time. He calls the idea of Twitter as a News Source 'Horsecrap". He says: 'The microblog is simply not a news source." He writes off Twitter as 'unpredictable noise in the crowded darkness." in his column "Second Opinion" in Market Watch.

Well, here I have a second third opinion about what John wrote about the idea of Twitter as a potential news source:

1. Elephant Syndrome: I hope John will be kind enough to show us one news paper, one TV Channel or at least one Online News Service that does not have elephant syndrome. I don't know why John does not understand any 'breaking-news' for that matter is an 'elephant'. 
2. Unvested Reporters: We hear this ever since bloggers started writing about issues that matter to the community at large. We hear that bloggers are no good at giving the news. But we have sometimes seen the Big Guys in Journalism depending on the Small Guys in Blogging for News. I don't know if John has purposefully not seen instances where Bloggers have reported better than Journalists. I think John's statement about J-school professors applies to John himself. Let me add a few words and take off a few words from John's own sentence to show how! "The silly notion of citizen journalism propagated undersetimated by J-school professors columnists seeking some excuse for their continued existence is part of the problem."
   
3. Vlunerability to manipulation: I hope John has his history of Journalism right. I don't know if John has heard about the American Government manipulating the news sources before any war. I don't know why John thinks some 'Workers' Party' [??] can manipulate only 'Twitter." The fact is anything can be manipulated, if it can be. 
4. Hoaxes and Goof Balls: John sounds like Hoaxes and Goof Balls started happening only after people started blogging. I don't know why John doesn't know the public will fall over and over again for hoaxes even if Twitter doesn't exist. 
5. Lack of Access: I don't understand why one should have access to spokespeople and officials to report news. There are many instances in history when the Officials have lied and gave false information to the public. News is not just about swallowing the official version as it is. The photograph of a cop beating an old lady might be a useless piece of information to John, but not to people like me.
6. Lack of Analysis: I don't know which J-school professor taught John that news is all about analysis. News is news. Analysis comes after the news. I have a suggestion. Let Bloggers and Twitter users report news. Then people like John who make a living analysing things can go ahead and do their bit of analysis instead of simply writing off Twitter Users.
7. Skewed Priorities. Twitter is about the users himself or herself now. Like blogging was once. Why can't it be about other things too, like blogging is now? 

It is sad that writers like John messes up their priorities [skewed priorities?] and blurs their vision about the possibilities of social networking! People like him should be encouraging it!

mGinger: Do they have the right model?

So the next time a popular television show host asks “Kaun Banega Crorepati?” it wouldn’t be wrong to say mGinger Users 

 The mGinger Guys wrote on their blog, announcing that they have so far distributed "1 Crore and 35 Lakhs" [13.5 Million? Correct me if I am wrong!] to its users. Yeh, that is a huge lot of money! They also claim that they have more than 2 million users!

I remembered joining a site that offered to pay me to read SMS Advertisements on my cell phone a few days ago as I was thinking of what to write on techedIN. That was way back in 2007. I wanted to see if the site still existed. I had forgotten what my user id and password were. I sought mGinger's help to mail me my user id and password and logged in. I remembered two of my friends who joined me up on invite. They were still there and that was it! My 'Network' has not grown beyond that. I clicked on the 'Earnings' Tab to see what I have earned so far, for the two years I have joined and forgotten mGinger. Gosh, I have earned 34.85 INR. Not so bad I thought! Not so bad for all these days of inactivity!

I remember mGinger starting up and I think it was one of my friends who had invited me to join in. I did, out of curiosity, then! I never believed a word of what they said. I knew I was not going to become a millionaire joining a site that paid me to read SMS.I don't believe that I am going to, even now! But I like the way mGinger persisted.

When I joined, mGinger was just a start-up. It was all about two or three friends joining hands together to try something that was unconvetional in India, then. And even as I joined, I liked the fact that they never made any lofty promises to the aspiring millionaires. They stated in plain and simple language that, as they are a start up they could not promise that members would start earning from day one. But, I remember them saying, as days go by and the network grows advertisers would see the point and use mGinger as a marketing tool and then things would change!

I think things have changed now. Right from day one, I could see people trusting what the mGinger Guys said.  They gained the confidence of users by calling a spade a spade. I think, from what I see on the site and the way people still respond to their blogs, they were successful in maintaining the trust people had in them.

Why am I talking about mGinger now? I am talking about mGinger not just because I want people to join in. I am talking about them because I am impressed to see that now they are talking about 'spicing up your mobile' than plainly asking you to join in to get paid to read advertisement. They started off blending two marketing models that were prevalent then: One, get paid to read advertisements, where you had to click on links that a site gave you to get paid. Two, the 'chain business' where you made people join to get paid. I think now they have one more option for people who join in, in their kity. They have these SMS Discount Coupon Offer, an adaptation of Google Coupons I guess, where you can download the coupons on your cell phone and avail discounts.

I am not still sure how far this 'get paid to read ads' work. Because I don't see many advertisements directed to me from mGinger on a given day. If I am some one who does marketing, I won't approach a company that pays the people to read the ads that I send. Yeah, you are right - they send advertisements based on interest categories. But that is not enough to convince the businessman in me!

If I were mGinger I would do the following:

1. Drop the 'get paid to read ads' model or restrict the interest categories people can choose. The way it is now, I can choose all the interest categories mindlessly, even if I am not interested in knowing about any of them. 
2. Hold on to the 'get paid to get people join' model and increase the incentives
3. Promote the Discount SMS Coupon thing! [I think they are doing that. Because I see a lot of coupons on their site!]

My point is: members trust mGinger Guys. But do the marketing wiz kids trust their model? Because, at the end of the day advertising is [not just about brand awareness] all about how many people buy what you are advertising! If it is about sustaining growth, the number of people and businesses who use their SMS Model is as important as the number of members!

How to Quick Launch folders from Windows Vista Taskbar?

Computers make life easy and hard to live at the same time! The easier it makes your life, you find yourself wondering why it doesn't make your life easier than what it is actually making it now. That makes life a bit hard to live and we always end up wanting more.

We want things done as quick and easy as possible. And I know how hard life can be if you have too many files and folders to live with and you always grapple with the idea of finding your files when you need them quickly and easily. Sometimes you wish you had some files at your fingertips. Now, I found a way to put my favourite folders on the Quick Launch of my Taskbar on my Vista and it made my life a little easier than it ever was. And I keep all those files I think I may need often in the folders on my Taskbar and now they are available to me at a double-click.

How did I do it? Let me demonstrate. For example, let us say, I want to put a folder named "Start Menu Test Folder" on my Taskbar Quick Launch. What do I do? Look at the picture below:

Step 1: I go to the place where the folder I want to put on the taskbar is located. I right click on the folder. In this case it is the "Start Menu Test Folder" I right-click on. I right-click on that and send a shortcut to my desktop.

Step 2: Once I am sure I have the shortcut to the folder on my Desktop, I go right-click on the Taskbar. Your Taskbar is locked usually. You are right-clicking to unlock it. Yes, right-click on the taskbar and unlock it.

Step 3: Once you have your Taskbar unlocked, it is easy. Click on the folder you want to be on the Taskbar and drag it to the Taskbar Quick Launch. Drag and drop the folder on your Taskbar Quick Launch. The folder will appear on your Taskbar. If you want to change the name of the shortcut, you can right-click on it and rename. Once you are done, right-click on your Taskbar and lock it again.

To avoid clutter and confusion, make sure that you don't keep more than one or two folders on your Taskbar. I am not sure if you know, you can put your favourite programmes on the Taskbar this way.  Right clcik on the Programme you want on your taskbar and click on "Add to Quick Launch" You can also pin to on your start menu, if you want.

I am not sure if the same thing can be done on Windows XP. I request the readers to try this on their XP, if they have one, and tell me if you can do it.

OneLook: Meanings from everywhere!

I agree. There is nothing better than Google Definition Search when it comes to finding the meaning of a word. Type "Define" and the word Google will find the meaning out for you. Type "~" and the word, Google will find synonyms for you. This is one feature I use usually, as I am often short of words or find it difficult to understand some words. However, like I said in one of my posts earlier, Google has a structural limitation which sometimes makes it difficult to understand the word I want to understand. Google, as I understand, gleans meanings automatically and sometimes this makes it give you only half of the definition. What do I do with half of a definition? Obviously, I have to look elsewhere for the meaning. Now, how do I decide where I look from the hundred thousands of links Google gives me? That's how I stumbled upon OneLook.

OneLook is an Answer Engine. I think they link to Digital Dictionaries from every nook and corner of the world, gather meaning when you ask and present in a very structured manner. [So Wolfram|Alpha is not the first one to do that?] It gives you a categorized list of links so that you can look up the meaning based on what Category you have in mind. For example you search the word 'Home' The word 'Home' means different things in sports and computers. So when OneLook gives you the list and links to different dictionaries you can search based on what you have in mind at that point of time. If you have sports in your mind you can click on links under Sports Category. If you have computer in your mind, you can click on links under Computer Category.

The best thing I liked about OneLook is, whenever and where ever possible they give you the meanings. On one side of the search page they usually have Quick Definitions. These definitions come with sentences to show you how they are used in different contexts. Sometimes they give you a link to how the word is pronounced and sometimes how the word originated. They also have, usually, a list of similar words.

Facebook: Keep your privacy to yourself and people you choose!

I always used to wonder who will see what I do on Facebook. It was not under my control, untill recently. Very recently I realized there are highly structured privacy settings in place on Facebook.

Now, on Facebook Privacy Settings you are given control over your Profile, Search, News Feed and Wall and Applications. You can control who sees your profile. You can control who searches for you and what they see when they find you and how they can contact you. You can also control what activity of yours is visible on your profile as well as your friend's home page. And you can also control what information is available to applications you use on face book. Facebook also permits you to block a particular user and enables you to see how another user views your profile.Of all the privacy settings available, I liked controlling applications and 'view as' options.

Applications are aplenty on Facebook and every time you use one, it asks for access to profile. My spamphobea doesn't permit me to give applications access to all the information I have on Facebook. And it is very difficult to decide which application you can trust and which you can't. I don't understand why some silly applications that lets you answer a quiz and gives you some godforsaken shit about yourself need to have acces to your profile information even after you are done with what they offered. I agree, some of them are fun while you are doing it. But why should they have access to my profile after I am done with it? I recently realized that the more applications I use on facebook, the more spams I receive on my mail. So this new privacy option on Facebook is a blessing.

Facebook also allows me to see for myself how my friends or acquaintances view my profile and wall. This helps me decide how I control the person's access to my page. Some of them who are linked to my Facebook Profile are just business acquaintances and I don't want them to see all that it takes to be me. There is an option on Facebook where I can customize who sees my profile and how. All that I got to do is to  to click on customization and select the people whom I will not permit to see certain information. 

I hope people will start using these Privacy  Settings and avoid a lot of confusions and abuses that can happen to you on-line. Some of us are just not bothered about what kind of information we leave on-line. You may not have a bank account you need to protect or you may rarely use your mail to communicate officially if you are in India. You may not do on-line purchases at all. But still, it is better to be careful about what information you leave around. Simply because, the way things are going, soon you will have to do a lot of things on-line which you otherwise wouldn't have done. 

Ning: Create your own social network!

Orkut, Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin Twitter and many more of them out there. In fact, it is raining 'social community networks' these days. I have counted on Wikipedia and there are at least 154 online social community networks listed, the last time I counted. Every other day I receive a mail or two from friends, inviting me to join a new community. The sociological implications of having too many social community networks online is one thing to discuss. But I don't think I will go into that as i am here to tell you about another phenomenon I recently noticed online. It is nothing but Ning.

Ning? I am sure it has got nothing to do with Bing and the Bing is not Google thing! And of course for Bing to be Google, Microsoft has to reincarnate as something more divine. Oh! God. I am here to tell you about Ning and not Bing.

Ning? They call it a platform to create online social communities. Let us hear what they say about themselves:

Ning lets you create and join new social networks for your interests and passions.

Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Ning offers an innovative and easy-to-use technology platform for people to join and create new social networks for their interests and passions and meet new people around the things they care about most in their life.

With over 1 million social networks created and more than 27 million registered members, millions of people everyday are coming together across Ning Networks to explore and express their interests, discover new passions, and meet new people around shared pursuits.

Ning also enables artists, brands and organizations to simplify and control their online presence with their own unique social network that beautifully integrates with other social media services while providing the most direct, unique and lucrative relationship with fans, consumers, and members.

Founded in October 2004 by Gina Bianchini and Marc Andreessen, Ning launched the Ning Platform in October 2005 and Ning social networks in February 2007. The company is privately held.

 That is a good thing, isn't it? To have a social community of your own! I am sure you know how to create groups on Orkut and Myspace. I know it is exciting to promote a group and to see it grow. However, I am sure you will feel more excited to create a social community of your own and see it grow. That's the option Ning gives you. Just like you can have a blog of your own, Ning lets you have a social community of your own. Like you do on Blogger, you can even have a .com address of your own for your Ning Social Community.

I am a member of Ning and I have created a few communities to see how it works. One thing I liked is the flexibility that Ning offers. The user interface of Ning looks like it is a site you can't trust. But within that look lies possibilities of moving the UI around the way you like. You can even code the look, if you are good at coding.

People say that Ning is vulnerable to spammers. I don't understand how as I am not attacked from any of the communities I own or any of the community in which I am a member. The people who run the Ning Sites I joined are always alert about spammers and only once or twice I received spam messages on my comment wall. The moment the site admin noticed that there is spam going around, he deleted the profile from which it was sent. And for me and to the sites I created, i give access to only those I know and they are a few.

I know a lot of people who use the Ning Service quiet fruitfully. I hope more people would. This 'community of community' is a giant leap for IT after Blogging.

Google Crome Crashes: How did I solve it?

It was not so long ago I wrote about Google Chrome launching an OS. I was so excited about the news of COS coming up to conquer the OS Market and going to take it all to the web and give cloud computing a new dimension. I was happy to know, soon I would be using my browser to run any application that I want to run. The next day something happened to my Chrome Browser, that almost made me rethink what I wrote. [No, I haven't changed my mind about trusting Google when they say their OS is going to be the best!] My Chrome Browser started crashing!

It started crashing every one minute. Start, crash and restart! This looked to me like running a fluorescent tube light when there is low voltage! Those of us who live in India would know what I am talking about. When there is low voltage [a common phenomenon in India] the tube lights start blinking like mad that you always give up and go to sleep no matter what you want to do. This Chrome Crash was like that.

I'd open the browser and type in a web address. When the page loads, Chrome would crash. Initially I thought, it might be a security procedure by Chrome and I was browsing a web page that might have sent some malicious code to my system. But when the crash recurred when I was browsing Google owned pages, when sometimes I was doing nothing on the browser, I realized there was something wrong. My Chrome browser was just not willing to listen to me and every other minute it crashed telling me: 'Whoa! Google Chrome has crashed.'

One good thing, during this whole drama of Chrome Crash, was that the browser was willing to get me back the pages I was browsing when it restarted. I managed to search the solution out, after an exasperating half an hour of start-crash-restart. Of course, Google had a solution. This is what Google asked me to do:

Solutions

Try restarting the browser.

Whenever possible, Google Chrome will restore webpages from your previous browsing session.

Check whether you need a new browser user profile.

If you see this error message repeatedly, your browser user profile may be corrupted. First try moving the Default subfolder from your User Data folder to see if that fixes the problem:

1. Go to Start menu > Run.
2. Enter one of the following directories in the text field, depending on your operating system: Windows XP: %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\ Windows Vista: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\
3. Click OK.
4. In the window that opens, rename the 'Default' folder as 'Backup.'
5. Move the 'Backup' folder from the 'User Data' folder up one level to the 'Chrome' folder.

If you continue to see the error, try creating a new user profile to replace your current one.

Check for problems with protected system files.

1. Go to Start menu > Run.
2. Enter the following: SFC.EXE /SCANNOW (make sure there is a space between SFC.EXE and /SCANNOW). This initiates the Microsoft utility that will scan and repair problems with protected system files on your computer.

Try opening Google Chrome and see whether the error message still appears.

The Economics of Attention: What is the trend now?

It was Google Trends who gave a new meaning to the word 'trend' on the Internet. It was about what the world was searching. It was Google's effort to assist the advertisers to make their decision during the keyword auctions for Adwords. Google sold contextual keywords to advertisers to run Adword Campaigns, one of the most innovative and successful advertising models ever. They have Search Based Keyword Tool that helps advertisers decide keywords for their campaign, based on actual search queries. And I think Google Trends added value to this by showing advertisers which keywords were searched the most. Perhaps, the price of the keywords went up depending on the trend,helping Google boost the Adword Sales.

'Trend' is now the Twitter Word. It is more about 'trending' now than about 'trend'. If 'Trend' was about what the world searched, 'trending' is about what the world is buzzing. Google Trend was about what the world searched during a day and was usually consolidated by the end of the day. But 'Trending' is about seconds! We see that trends change every second.

In 2007, Richard MacManus wrote about "10 Future Web Trends". The fifth possible trend he mentioned was "Attention Economy". There he mentioned a write-up by Alex Iskold, on Attention Economy. In the write-up Alex explored a proposition by Herbert Simon:

Herbert Simon was perhaps the first person to articulate the concept of attention economics when he wrote:"...in an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it" (Simon 1971, p. 40-41).

Alex said that 'key ingredient in the attention game is relevancy' and what is relevant this second may not be relevant in the next as the attention span of people is really narrowing down. People 'skim' more than they 'read'. And he also explained how we are soon going to live in an 'Attention Market Place", where the customer gets to choose what he is going to look at and buy. I think the time has arrived. And Twitter Trending and What the Trend? are signs of our time. You must have already noticed that what trends on Twitter during the first half of the day does not trend during the second half.

So far it was about plain and direct 'Contextual Marketing.' Advertisements were placed based on what people searched and what people read. I think contextual marketing has come of age. As predicted by Alex, we are moving from the idea of static 'web sites' to the idea of ever changing and people participatory 'web services'. Marketing also needs to focus on what people say as they focus on what people search and read. It is more about word-of-mouth marketing, or what they call viral marketing. In other words, marketing needs to focus on where people's attention is. I think it is here a Web Service like What the Trend? or Fad.ly becomes relevant.

What the Trend? looks at what people are looking at and talking about, mostly on Twitter. It also gives you an idea about latest photos and latest news on a trending topic. One good thing about 'What the Trend?' is the fact that it gives us an idea about when the trend trended for the first time and when it trended for the last time. It also gives a space for people to say why the trend is trending. But at present it gives you only a limited picture when it comes to what is the trend elsewhere.

If you have the 'whole World Wide Web'in mind, I think fad.ly is more evolved when it comes to conceptualizing 'trending'. It claims that it was launched to become a central location for real time fads on web. Now, that is a little more comforting than 'What the trend?'s' idea of trending. But the discomforting part of the story is that when it comes to trending, even fad.ly focuses on what happens on twitter than elsewhere. Sure it has provided spaces to pull links to news, photographs and videos relevant to the topic. However, they rarely have a link to give us as it is mostly about what is trending on Twitter and not necessarily about what is trending on the World Wide Web.

I think viral marketing wiz kids can use these tools to design their campaigns 'Attention Economy' focused. I also hope someone big enough to take "What the Trend?" to the next level takes notice of Matt Mayer or Fad.ly. I would love to see what is 'trending' every second on the whole 'World Wide Web' and not just Twitter.! Till that happens, I am afraid, Google Trend is the only reliable tool marketing people are going to have to decide what drives their campaigns.

My "Followers" ARE showing up on Twitter!

Again, I am writing for a second time in a day. Simply because of the urgency of the situation. I thought I should let everyone know. Let me quickly tell you:

A few days back I wrote about how I can't see my followers on Twitter. Today, I noticed that my followers are showing up on Twitter. Well, I can't see those of them I have missed out on the list last time there was this issue of followers disappearing even after they have started following. I can at least see the new ones who are following. Thanks Twitter!!

Three Reasons why your Website should Social Network!

I see an increase in the number of sites [that belong to firms and popular personalities] tweeting away to glory or having a Facebook account, lately. I also see many of them having a verified twitter account. From White House, [Yeh, your own American White House I am talking about] to Oprah, they all have verified twitter accounts. This again shows me how it mutually helps people to market themselves, both the social networks in question and the people who create an account on them.

Both Twitter and Facebook give you an opportunity to create personalized URLs. How does it help you? It helps you become visible. Most of the searches on Google about people and companies can lead one to both Twitter URLs and Facebook URLs. This visibility of course depends on how often you update your status and how often people click on your profile. Both Twitter and Facebook give you an opportunity to link your site to your profile. You can link your Facebook or Twitter Profiles to your site and show people that you regularly update your status and I guess this makes a lot of them feel that you love to be in touch with them. Even otherwise, Twitter and Facebook are growing crazy in terms of popularity and it is good to be on them. And it helps the business be noticed.

I am sure we are living at a time when direct and plain advertising, especially on web, pisses off people. I see no reason why Google permits image and video ads these days. I see no reason why Facebook makes the advertisements look like it comes from them and is a part of the entire package, trying to pretend that it is giving you what you want. Facebook does the new-age contextual marketing, a step ahead of what Google invented. People are trying to develop subtle ways of marketing. And I think Facebook and Twitter are good tools, looking at the way people are talking about them and using them. And I certainly think Search Engines and Personalized URLs can go a long way in helping businesses stay visible, without letting people notice that they are desperately trying to do so.

I think the cross linking opportunity these sites provide help businesses sound genuine. Internet is a good and bad place at the same time. And with the number of security threats and suspicious links ever increasing, it is essential for online businesses to be in the good books of internet users. Linking the business to Social Networks and regularly updating them give people a chance to see how genuine you are. Because, every crime has a loophole and it is very easy to see through frauds when we are talking about regularly updating status and relevant information. No fraud can survive on Social Community Networks for a long time and people are good at whistleblowing on-line. I think businesses should be using this opportunity to subtly market their genuineness.

I also think Social Community Networks can work as an effective tool for businesses to collect feedback from their customers. Be it a Google or Yahoo Group! Be it a Facebook or Twitter Account! Be it a Blog on Blogger or Wordpress! Staying in touch with the customer is the key. Weighing in on what people say about the product or service you offer, clarifying their queries! I think Google is a good example for this. Of course, they don't twitter or go Facebook. But they have these Blogs and Online Groups where they allow users to incessantly rant and rave about their products. I see that as one of the reasons why Google grow and surprise us forever!

Another thing is, these sites offer their services free of cost. [That shouldn't be a reason of course!] And may be you have to pay Twitter a little to get your account verified. I think it is worth the deal, isn't it?

Google Voice is coming soon! Will it come to India?

Happy news folks - Grand Central is now Google Voice!!

I try my best to restrict it to one post a day and anything more than one post is queued up for the coming days. I have a minimum of five posts waiting to be published on any given day. I heard the news today and couldn't help but publish this post. And I know it is only for US Customers! But that is okie! I am sure one day I'll be using Google Voice from India to talk to friends and relatives. I also have a feeling that corporates are going to jump at this opportunity. One number for all your phones is not a bad idea and that is what Google is offering through Google Voice.

Google Voice started off as Grand Central in 2005. Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet, the guys who ran Dialpad Communications which was aquired by Yahoo! in June 2005, laid plans for Grand Central. Google acquired Grand Central in July 2007. For the last two years Google never really said anything about the future of Grand Central. And now, it is Google Voice.

David Lagesse wrote why he thinks Google Voice is going to add value to Information Technology. I think one of his reasons is really true:

"It's a compelling offer, especially at the price. In typical Google fashion, there is no cost to users, at least not yet. Maybe there will be later, at least for premium services. For now, the only cost is a potential loss of privacy."

Google has kept the key feature of Grand Central and peppered the service with goodies of their own. The power of Grand Central was its ability to give one number for all your phones. David Pogue gives an overview of the features Google has added to the service:

"The new features included free transcriptions of your voicemail (the text of those messages gets sent to you by e-mail and text message); free conference calling; dirt-cheap international calls (2 cents a minute to France or China, for example); and, perhaps most profoundly, Web-based sending and storing of all your text messages. That's a first in cellphone history; for most people, text messages scroll away off the phone after 20 of them or so, with no way to capture them."

Skype Forums are already talking about how Google is going to be Skype Killer! Now, Skype, I guess allows Skype-to-Skype calls for free and charges Skype-to-Phone Calls. But, Google Voice is talking about free calls to any local phone. And Preethi Dumpala gives five reasons why she thinks Google Voice is going to take Skype out of Business. Off all the five reasons, I am in total agreement with her when she talks about the 'Google Muscle!"

And it seems you can connect your Jaxter Number with Google Voice Number. I am not still sure if that is going to be 'free of cost to both parties' as it is discussed in the forum. But if it is, it is a bonus. Another good example of how technology can make it a lot more easier for people.

Google says that Google Voice will be open to users in weeks. Right now the service is available to Grand Central Users only.And Grand Central Users are obviously US Users. I am not sure if it is going to be open for Mobile Phone Users in India, the way our telephone companies deal with VoIP. No one is sure and everyone is waiting! For people from US who wants to send SMS to India, I think you can start doing that for time being!!

IE6 Must Die: The new On-line Movement!

Look at this screen shot from Twitter. I was so surprised to see the slogan "IE6 Must Die" trending on Twitter, yesterday. I think the trending began on Twitter with Ben Parr posting 'IE6 Must Die for the Web to Move On' on Mashable.

Ben Parr wrote on Mashable:

Just six years ago, the web was dominated by one browser:Internet Explorer, specifically Internet Explorer 6. Without Netscape to compete against it and the ability to bundle its browser with Windows XP, Microsoft experienced superior market share – up to 95% at the peak. Today though, we have far superior browsers like Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Chrome, as well as Internet Explorer 8. So why is 15 to 25 percent of the world’s browsing still done in a browser created in the digital Stone Age (aka 2001)?

Long ago, in 2007, David Walsh gave '6 Reasons Why IE6 Must Die'. Even at that point, I don't think anyone disagreed with him. But the post did not see the whole World Wide Web rising against IE6, probably because many end users could not really see the difference. Most of what David wrote was technical. Probably people didn't care what programmers went through. David wrote:

"millions of ignorant internet users will stick to using IE6 which will result in programmers dedicating valuable time to fix IE6-caused bugs and will hamper pushing websites to the next level."

I took a look at how browsers are used across the world on Wikipedia. I found that Internet Explorer owns 65% of the browser market share. And according to Wikipedia's June 2009 Report, IE6 owns 12.78% browser market share. According to w3schools.com, by June 2009, IE6 owns at least 14.9% browser market share. 12% or 14%, why is the internet all of a sudden showing a trend against IE6?

All of a sudden we have major websites like Facebook and You Tube trying to force users drop IE6. All of a sudden we have Internet trending on "IE6 Must Die". "What the Trend?" is asking for an On-line Movement against IE6, encouraging people to tweet the Mashable post title "IE6 Must Die for the Web to Move On". I think it is all because, HTML5 is on the way. Its first draft appeared on web in January 2008. Now, WHATWG is working hard to make HTML 5 a modern reality. I think once HTML 5 is a reality and all major websites drop IE6 support, we'll see the death of the browser. Asa Dotzler, predicts that IE6 will die by the end of next year if the present trend continues.

Let us all join our hands together to help Internet Technology move and grow further. If IE6 does not die on its own, we must kill it. I thought, as a part of that I would provide a list of links to help you find the new-age browsers. You can choose the one you think you will like. Here is the list:

• Firefox
• Opera
• Chrome
• Internet Explorer 8
• Safari

Of all the browsers, I prefer Firefox and Chrome. I prefer Firefox for the kind of cool add-ons it gives you to make your browsing experience great. I prefer Chrome for its simplicity and security.

China going Green Dam is delayed!

30 June 2009. "On the eve of destruction, China has delayed Green Dam Day."


PC manufacturers who shipped computers to China were asked to pre-install Green Dam Youth Escort by 1 July 2009, on all new computers they sold in China. Now, Green Dam, as Wikipedia puts it, is a Content-control Software. Green Dam is developed by Jinhui Computer System Engineering Ltd for the People's Republic of China. China claims that Green Dam filters out pornographic content and the software is its attempt to protect young people from unwanted content. 

Filtering out Pornographic content in an attempt to protect young children? Are you kidding me? Everybody knows that Green Dam will download the list of prohibited sites and install it on the end user's computer. And everyone knows China's history of trying to control what their people are doing on-line. In a study conducted by Jonathan Zittarein and Benjamin Edelman of Harward Law School, in 2002, 126 sites blocked by Chinese Government were listed and none of them where pornographic sites. I know that was seven long years ago. But still it is hard to believe when Chinese Government says it is going to only filter "pornographic and violent content". Because I know that Companies like Google imposes self-censorship on themselves to comply with the Chinese Law. And I also know that the Great Fire Wall of China is not such an innocent thing.


What appears in Wikileaks about Green Dam tells us that there will be more filtering than just pornographic or violent content. For example, if Falun Gong is entered into a WordPad or NotePad or any other application, the application will shut down. For those of you who didn't have the time to click and read the links I have given, Falun Gong is a religion presently illegal in China. Tell me what kind of violence and sexually lewd thoughts can a religion like Falun Gong, which believes in "cultivation of virtue and character" spread? This tells us that Green Dam is more about unfair Government Censorship than Chinese Governments' Concern for its Young People. 


On 30 June 2009, Chinese Government announced that it postponed its ultimatum to the PC Manufacturers about Green Dam. Though Chinese Government has not accepted it yet, journalists say it is due to US Pressure.  China says the delay is only because 'some computer manufacutrers need more time.' 

As that was happening, Chinese people vehemently mocked Government Censorship. Pictures of the Green Dam Girl is doing her rounds on the internet. A Chinese Blogger called Hecaitou pokes fun at the Government of China for this mindless cowardice, through this cartoon character. The Green Dam Girl in uniform, drawn in Manga style, wearing a Police Cap emblazoned with a Crab, holding the Green Dam Logo "Rabbit", makes fun of the Chinese Government's idea of a 'harmonious society'. We are also told that young people partied to express their happiness when the Chinese Government announced the delay. 


RConversation reports how Chinese people scorn the software. RConversation published what people wrote as a feedback to the manufacturer of the Software. I found that one of them wrote "Today, a teacher posted  an exam question which talks about 'students playing touch-ball game'. The word document was shut down."  Now, closing a Word Document because the word 'touch' was typed? Give me a break, China!


Wikipedia reports that Green Dam has a photo filter which uses skin colour to assume the nature of the photographs. It filtered out the image of pigs because the colour of their skin is pink. I can't help but laugh at this.


Everyone knows it is not entirely about pornography and violence. Some say it works as spyware. I am told that the software sends screenshots to the Software Manufacturer if people try and access any of the banned sites. I am told applications close down if people type banned words or phrases. And it is not just sexually explicit words that are banned from the look of things. 


Green Dam is about a State that is not willing to give its people access to information. Thought Policing is a crime, a crime on humanity. 

From Short to Long URL: Save yourself from Koobface

This is a dirty world again. Koobface that was troubling users sending spam using member profiles on Facebook and Myspace is attacking Twitter now. Twitter is now suspending accounts that are under attack in an attempt to save the community from the unwanted guest.

Wikipedia tells us: "Koobface is an anagram of Facebook." It is the word 'book' spelt the other way around - 'koob'. Koobface attacks an account by sending unsolicited links. In case of Twitter, Koobface sends you a link with messages like 'My home video.' Once you click on the link it takes you to a site that spreads malware. It may tell you that you need to install or update your current flash plugin. Once you try to update your flash plugin, the site will push .exe files to your system. The first thing the Koobface Execution file may do in your computer is to find cookies from Social Community Networks and affect them. The Koobface Malware may also act as a Spyware and send personal information from your system like passwords and credit card numbers to the person behind the malware.

The best thing you can do against Koobface is not to click unsolicited links, even if it is from a person known to you. But this is not fare. We can't live this way, being scared of Koobfaces.

Most often short urls are the villains. One almost wishes if short urls were never invented. They never tell you where they will take you to and you will know only after you reach the place. Twitter uses short urls extensively. Now, how can we not see what our friends send us? Impossible. There is a way out.

For example:http://bit.ly/2VPO3s is a short url techedIN posted on Twitter. You do not know me and it is not fair on my part to expect you to click on that link and come to techedIN and read what I post. Again, it is not fair on your part not to read what I write. After all, I take so much of trouble to write these posts. Now, what do we do to trust each other? All that you need to do is to go to LongURL.org

Step 1: Copy and paste the short url you want to verify in the box provided on the LongURL site and click on expand.

Step 2: Now what you see is an expansion of the short url you have tried. It gives you information like the title, the long url and additional information like content type. Sometimes it also gives you a snap shot of the site. One you are sure that you can trust the site or you know the site, you can click on the site peacefully.

It is not fair on anyone's part to send us one thing and tell us it is something else. Short URLs encourage that habit a lot. I appreciate the efforts of Sean Murphy, who pre-empted this menace and came up with a solution like LongURL.org

My "Followers" aren't showing up on Twitter

So much for the excitement of having a Twitter Account to show off my blog - my followers just wouldn't show up on my account. As I am writing this blog five days after opening my twitter Account to public, I have 10 people following me.Or that is what Twitter tells me. Alas, I can see only five of them. From the look of the five profiles that show up on my Twitter Account, four of them are spammers and people who are least bothered about what I blog. Yes, I can see only five people there, even though Twitter tells me there are ten.

I googled a bit to see if there are people affected the same way as I am. I think there are many of them, who are frustrated at this as I am. I can at least see five of them who are following me. Some people can't see any of them.

And Twitter acknowledges the issue, in a very roundabout manner. They speak as though this happens only with protected accounts. And the solution they give applies only to those users who have a protected account. If you have a 'protected' account, let Twitter know "the user name of the protected account" and 'the user name(s) who have been not added to your list of followersafter accepting the follow request." They don't tell you how to let them know. Perhaps, you have to post it as a reply to the post on the issue. Now, I want to tell them this happens to even those users who have not protected their account. Users who have not protected their account can't see who tried to follow them, especially, like me, if they have disabled their email notifications. Then, how will I let Twitter know? I have no clue!!

May be this is because I had my account protected once, as Twitter tells me? I think it is more than that. Twitter accepts there is a 'database lag' Database Lag? Yes, it is. It looks like Twitter Database is overflowing. Or is it that there is a 'clash' of data or bug on the database that many things don't get recorded? So follower counts are registered when followers are not.

And one more thing I realized as I was reading the help forum from Twitter on this issue - if you can't see them on your follower list they just are not following you. They might have tried following you and the follower count is registered. But if they are not on your list, they are not there at all.

I hope Twitter will soon come up with a solution to this.

Blogadda: get your blog listed and let people read you

We all know! Most of us, small time bloggers, keep wondering when and how people will notice our blog and start reading it. In my perpetual search for ways in which one can get a blog noticed, I recently stumbled up on Blogadda. Blogadda provides "Indian bloggers a platform to showcase their blogs."

Let us hear what Blogadda says about themselves:

There are super Indian bloggers waiting for an audience to discover them. Blogadda provides Indian bloggers a platform to showcase their blogs.We've read a lot of blogs over time and continue to do so, and found that there wasn't a single resource to discover blogs of our interests. And this is how Blogadda.com was born.

Joining Blogadda is very simple. Here is what the site asked me to do: First, I registered an account like I would do to join any other site. Blogadda lets you use the site only after you verify your email and add a link to Blogadda on your blog. Once you create an account, verify it from a mail sent to your email address from Blogadda. You can now register your blog with Blogadda. Then copy and paste the html code to your blog. They say that their team will visit the blog to see if there is a link to Blogadda from your blog and they send you an email if your blog is approved. Well, I don't mind that. We are living in a 'win-win world'.

I stayed on the site, after registering my blog, for sometime. A few things caught my eye: One, Blogadda updates 'Recent Posts' every hour so that blogs that are active get noticed. [Well, Iam not going into the issue of one hour time lapse. Something is always better than absolutely nothing at all.] Two, I liked the way Blogadda lets users post useful tips on Blogging and selects and features the best. [Well, I would have loved to read all the tips that members post. I couldn't locate a link that took me to all that members posted. For time being, I feel this is good.] Three, I read a a couple of 'super blogger' interviews. [Well, I liked all that I read. They gave such insights into how blogging is happening in our part of the world and how 'super bloggers' are looking at it.] Four, Blogadda won't permit spam site promoters to be registered with them. [Well, I have no clue if they have spelt out a clear policy about what is spam and what is not. I haven't found anything on the site that tell me what is spam, yet. However, no-spam policy is a good policy.]

Blogadda shows how a good idea can go a long way. I don't know how many have registered their blogs on Blogadda. However, from the look of things, I think Indian Bloggers are joining the site like bees go where honey is available. Perhaps, the only issue is what a comparison between the number of members and the number of people who actually read what appears on Blogadda will show us! I hope as many people are taking time to use Blogadda as their one-stop source for 'Blog Reading' as there are members.