Your Dose of Tech Info

3D Web Browsing - Just Getting Started

2008-07-10T23:29:00.000-07:00

I recently came across this Firefox extension called Piclens, and was pretty impressed! It lets you browse through pictures, videos, and text from across the web, by dragging, zooming, and scrolling through the interface. There's a cool 'discover' feature, that shows you the latest content off the web - good for staying updated with the news. Here's a video to get a glimpse of what it does:

Be warned - It's very addictive!
Download here

Video: Simplicity Sells

2008-03-25T22:07:00.000-07:00

A smart talk, titled 'When it Comes to Technology, Simplicity Sells' by New York Times, Tech journalist David Pouge.
You'll love it if you're an Apple fan and MS hater. He plays some good music poking at microsoft's software principles, and bill gates. Enjoy!

Zoho Show - Top Quality Online Presentations

2007-12-13T01:08:00.000-08:00

Soon when Zoho makes it big with revenues, I'll be proud that I predicted this company's potential early on itself. Not that I contribute anything to it.

Now, Zoho has added an online presentation software to its suite of business software. It's got most of the features of MS PPT, and Google is gonna have to catch up with their online presentation tool, Presently. Here's a video showing off the capability of Zoho Show 2.0:

Feed Yourself the Best in Gmail

2007-07-10T06:43:00.000-07:00

There's this Greasemonkey script I just found out about, and wish I knew about it all along! I've been an avid user of Google Reader in the past, but found it too much effort to keep logging in and out of Reader. Now, I have the perfect feature to help me keep up with feeds! You'll need to install Greasemonkey before you can use this.

This script adds a 'Feeds' link to your Gmail inbox, and clicking on it shows you the feeds you subscribed for right ininside your Gmail account! It saves me a lot of time from logging in and out of Reader, and from excessive scrolling thro feeds in Google Reader.

This should be a feature in Gmail, but then there'd be hardly a need to have a separate Google Reader account.

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Google Takes Feedburner Too

2007-06-08T00:44:00.000-07:00

This is another big move for Google to own the most advanced technology around (specifically in the advertising, and media industry). This will help Google test and grow their AdSense for Feeds program, which places ads in between each post in a feed subscription.

FeedBurner is the largest feed aggregator on the Web, and feeds are the trend for accessing information over the net. As Internet users find more complex ways to access information, feeds will be the norm for all users.

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Yahoo! and PayPal Emulate Checkout

2007-04-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, Yahoo announced that they're teaming with eBay's PayPal, the most popular online transaction system, to compete with Google Checkout. The main features are freakishly similar to Google Checkout. Here are some of the similarities that stand out:

1. The badge next to the ads (Google's now changed to a bigger, and more colorful badge)
2. Free processing till December, '07 (exactly the same as Google)

What does this mean? I think it means, PayPal realizes that Google's innovative promotion of their service is working, and is eating into their share. For Yahoo, this is just a way of countering Google's service even if they don't want to invest in creating a new competitor.

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Google's Presently Working on...

2007-04-18T05:05:00.000-07:00

A web-based presentation software which will be added to its existing suite of Google Docs & Spreadsheets. With this Google will have an online competitor for the three major MS Office components (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)

The main benefit that Google boasts of is the collaboration aspect. I assume users will be able to view and edit the presentation online at the same time, and it'll have a chat area included to facilitate collaboration.

Other advantages include access to the data from anywhere if you're connected to the Internet. You won't have to back up the files on every one of your devices. And on a minor level, storage will not be a concern.

"It does not have all the functionality nor is it intended to have all functionality of Microsoft Office," he said, but quickly added, "It seems to be a better fit to how people use the Web."
- Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google

Teaser: Google's Q1 earnings will be announced tomorrow, so stay tuned
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After Google Acquires Doubleclick

2007-04-17T06:21:00.000-07:00

Continuing from my post on 4 April, Google acquired Doubleclick for $3.1 billion this week. The most recent update on this is that Microsoft, and AT&T are unhappy about the outcome. MS has requested that Antitrust Officials review the deal for attempting to create a monopoly. It may be too late to reverse the deal now, and it's funny to see these two companies talking about 'monopoly'. Microsoft that wanted their software on every computer in the world, and AT&T that opposes net neutrality.

It's true that Google does have the bulk share of the online advertising industry industry, but the right attitude would be to either beat 'em, or beat it.

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Yahoo! to Serve Ads for Viacom

2007-04-11T06:41:00.000-07:00

Viacom made their advertising preferences very clear yesterday when they chose Yahoo! over Google to partner with and serve ads for their popular entertainment websites for MTV, VH1, and Nickelodeon. This is a multi-year contract, and could be expanded to more than the already mentioned websites.

This is a big deal for Yahoo! considering the growing gap between them and online advertising leader Google. Viacom has also sued Google last month over copyright infrignment with YouTube videos. Partnering is the way to go in today's businesses. Technology companies realize that the attention of their audience is spread over a large spectrum of websites, and applications. Gone are the days when portals ruled user behavior, and were the 'be all' and 'end all' in user choice.

Google provides advertising services for AOL, MySpace, and Ask.com. We hope Yahoo! can leverage its newly released Panama project, and increase the competition for the online ad revenue.

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Yahoo's Kiss Technique

2007-04-07T04:11:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you've heard of the kiss analogy - keep it short and sweet. Yahoo! made a ~~pretty long~~ blog post that they would be limiting the length of text in their ads to 70 characters from this May.

Yahoo's comment: "We’ve found that ads written more concisely give users a better experience and perform better for advertisers."

I think it could turn out good for Yahoo!, and for users too. A small ad would catch my attention more than one with many lines of text. It's something like Google's homepage - the brevity, and emptiness on the page is something that users love. Webmasters know that cluttering a page reduces its effectiveness. We want information quick, accurate, and brief. I wouldn't be surprised if Yahoo! reports a revenue rise after implementing this change.

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2 Big Tech Companies to Sell

2007-04-04T00:06:00.000-07:00

1. Recently, Dave Sifry (CEO, Technorati) made an announcement about Technorati's increase in traffic, and unique pageviews, sparking speculation of the organization being up for sale. Sifry commented on Michael Arrington's post saying "I’ll be very clear about it - Technorati isn’t for sale. We’re very happy doing what we’re doing, and we’ve been seeing significant growth." However, even this is not enough to quell the rumors.

2. DoubleClick is also up for sale, and this is confirmed unlike the former. Microsoft, AOL, and Time Warner are known contenders, but recently it was announced that Google has joined the auction too.

Currently, $2 billion is the estimated price of DoubleClick, which serves advertising for MySpace, and AOL. We expect an announcement about the aquisition in a few days from now, so stay tuned

Yahoo! Underground

2007-04-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

Just when we have an overload of information from every kind of social networking site, Yahoo! comes up with a site that's based on Yahoo! News, and is customized for the "fringe cultures". It aims at sharing videos, music, pics, and text about things that social freaks do.

I see the direction Yahoo! is going in - the huge success of Yahoo! Answers makes them long for a repeat act. That said, Yahoo! could have made Underground more unique. But let's wait and see if this site picks up any momentum.

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Google Goes Down the Loo

2007-04-01T20:43:00.000-07:00

OK, Google got me on April Fool's Day. Below, is my original post as proof.

Today Google announced that it's attempting to give homes across the US, and Canada broadband access, but you'll never in your wildest dreams imagine how they plan to do it. They'll send you a kit with a fiber cable, and you'll need to send a spindle attached to that cable down your pottie. It then opens up inside the sewage, and you plug the other end of this cable to a wireless router which comes along with the package. You'll need to run the installation CD, which will compulsorily install the Google Toolbar to your browser, and after an hour you'll have free broadband internet access! I'll leave the 'eeewww's or 'wow's up to you to decide.

The catch is to allow Google to gather information about you from your excreta. Information such as your "culinary preferences, current health status and likelihood of developing particular medical conditions going forward."

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Deepfish from Microsoft

2007-03-30T05:15:00.000-07:00

Today Microsoft announced a new web browser for mobile devices called Deepfish. It aims at bringing the same experience you have on your desktop to your mobile phone. What it does is, it downloads just the thumbnail of a webpage, which is very compressed. Then it allows users to move to any part of the web page and zoom in/out for detail. The main difference this will make is reduced scrolling thro the page.

The background seems to be the launch of Apple's iPhone. This is Microsoft saying 'Hey, we want to give you what the iPhone promises, on your own phone - a great browsing experience'. Only the trial version is out at this time, and the response thus far sounds great.

Store Your Files Online - Free

2007-03-29T05:26:00.000-07:00

Have you ever run out of space on your PC, or Laptop, and knew it's going to take some time before you upgraded to a bigger hard drive? Ever wished you could access your files from anywhere? Ever tried sending a file via email and found out it's too big? If you answered yes to one of these, you should try box.net.

I found it while Googling today, and was very impressed with the simplicity, ease of use, and how intuitive it is. I tried uploading a file as a trial, and was very impressed with the navigation, and speed. Once you upload your files, you can send links to your friends to download them, or you can embed them on your blog, or you can log into your account from anywhere and download your files.

My only wish is for box.net to take off the size limit for individual files (it's currently at 500MB). Otherwise, I totally recommend this site to anyone looking for easy, and quick file sharing. You'll have 1 GB alloted for your files, and it's free!

Unlimited Storage for Yahoo! Mail

2007-03-27T22:52:00.000-07:00

From it's 1GB limit, Yahoo! Mail has just announced that it will now offer users unlimited storage starting May, '07. According to Yahoo!, the spike in picture sharing via email in recent times is one of the reasons for this upgrade. The transition will take a month to reach all users, and is not effective in China, and Japan.

This comes almost a month after Rediffmail offered unlimited storage to their users. Are we going to see GMail, and Hotmail follow trend? I guess so, and welcome the lifting of limits. Currently, Hotmail has a limit of 2GB, and the GMail counter is at 2833.418816MB (2.7GB) as I write this.

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Adobe Creative Suite 3 - Out Now

2007-03-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

Today Adobe launches its Creative Suite 3 software. It's the most complete application for designing yet, and is considered the biggest launch that Adobe has ever made. You can watch the launch live at the Adobe website at 3.30pm EDT.

With the explosion of video content on the Net, the Adobe flash player has been the most used in it's segment. The launch of CS 3 comes at just the right time for Adobe. It allows developers and designers to create content for every form of media (web, mobile, print, film, etc.,)

The software is priced at a steep $1599 to start with. From the first reviews, it seems the improvements in CS 3 are worth the money.

"Our customer is not typically price sensitive. The cost of the tool isn't what's critical -- it's the productivity and what their output can be." - Bruce Chizen, CEO, Adobe

IBM's 1 Second Chip

2007-03-26T06:46:00.000-07:00

IBM plans to show off their newest chip at the Optical Fiber Conference. It'll be a giant leap for average users if it can reach down to everyone. Imagine downloading your movies in a second instead of 30 minutes.

This chip is said to have a transfer speed of (hold on to your seats) 160 Gigabits per second! And all that with an optical tube 1/5th the thickness of a 10 cent coin. It promises wide usage because of its low cost.

"The explosion in the amount of data being transferred, when downloading movies, TV shows, music or photos, is creating demand for greater bandwidth and higher speeds in connectivity"
- Dr. T.C. Chen, vice president, Science & Technology, IBM Research.

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Next on Screen - Caterpillar from News Corp and NBC

2007-03-24T03:12:00.000-07:00

Major media companies, and technology companies are teaming up to share the revenue in the online video sector. News Corp, and NBC are starting out an unnamed project code-named 'Caterpillar' that will show the companies' TV shows for free on sites like AOL, Yahoo, MSN, and of course MySpace.

5 Outcomes from This Deal:
1. For Internet Users - More great quality videos to watch
2. For Copyright Owners - An opportunity to make money online
3. For the Host Websites - An opportunity to catch up with YouTube
4. For the Host Websites - Users spend more time on their websites
5. For Advertisers - The next big thing after pay-per-click advertising

More from The New York Times

Apple TV - Not a TV

2007-03-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

Don't be mistaken by the name Apple TV, it's not a television, instead it's an advanced set-top box. The silvery 7" gadget can store video, audio, and images from a computer (or network), and play them on your TV. The cool part of it is that it gets data from your computer wirelessly, and can work over long distances. The 40GB hard drive can store videos for up to 50 hours of viewing.

The connectivity is the most impressive feature of the Apple TV. As the iTunes software is updated, you can set what data you want to transfer and store on your Apple TV wirelessly. On the downside, would you want to pay $300 to watch videos on a bigger screen (even that doesn't hold good if you can get a big monitor for your comp).

We can only appreciate the simplicity, style, and class that all Apple products have. And the Apple TV is nothing short of that.

Google Eye Candy

2007-03-21T06:12:00.000-07:00

Google announced recently that it has acquired Trendalyzer, a tool used to convert numerical data to graphics. It seems that Google's intention in this acquision is to improve user experience. This tool was developed by a company called Gapminder. I suspect it will be incorprated with Google Spreadsheets, and maybe Google Trends.

Numbers are not for the average person, and systems make best use of numbers. Giving the same numbers form will make them more useful and presentable to users. The image on the left side is an example of how the data looks after being converted.

Read more from the Google Blog

Skype Business Directory

2007-03-16T03:34:00.000-07:00

SkypeFind is an attempt by Skype to organize business listings. It allows users of Skype to add, and edit information about local businesses. You can add the information only after downloading the Skype software, not online.

While this may not be a ground breaking launch, it's nice to see more attempts to organize the world's information, and bring it online.

Search Wikipedia Better

2007-03-14T05:45:00.000-07:00

Wikiseek is a new search engine for Wikipedia from SearchMe, and is an improved search for Wikipedia information. I took a look at it and really liked the categories at the top of the page. For example, if I search for 'Ipod' I get suggestions like Apple Computer, consumer electronics, audio codecs, and a variety of other options.

This is close to a normal search engine showing snippets of each article. This is an improvement from the narrow Wikipedia that we are used to, but if your query is something unique, you may want to try one of the web search engines instead.

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Search Engine Supremacy - Another Attempt

2007-03-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

Recently we've heard of so many search engines trying new things to make information more organized, vast, and available. One attempt is Wikia Search a couple of months ago, which aimed at using users to develop their search engine. And now, we have Freebase (Free+Database) with a somewhat similar approach.

The search engine is not available for use yet, it will be launched tomorrow. Its technology is something similar to Wikipedia, or Web 2.0, in which users control, add, and edit data. It would recognize how systems interact and find meaning in the data (Semantic web).

If this works, and gains momentum, it'll be a huge phenomenon in the search engine world, but the challenge lies in getting users to add to the information. Can it repeat Wikipedia's success? Let's wait for the launch tomorrow...

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Google TV Ads

2007-03-12T06:29:00.000-07:00

It appears Google is not happy with just the desk, they want the couch too! In an article by WSJ today, it was reported that Google has begun a small experiment with TV ads in Concord, CA. This is part of Google's effort to have a broad variety of advertising.

TV ads have always been delivered to the mass, with no way of tracking the ROI. It'll be interesting to see if Google can bring some sort of reporting to TV ads, and maybe a way to target your audience more effectively. So far, the most targeted a TV commercial can get is to guess the rough age range of the viewers of a program, and show ads that they'd be interested in.

Google has shown it's innovative edge in online advertising, but will they be able to spread this success to radio, and TV too.. only time will tell. Stay tuned for more developments.

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