Google – Page 2

Google … TM !!!!

Today I noticed a little TM next to all the Google Logos. Insignificant little addition to the Google Logo. Wonder what they are upto … !

Wikipedia talks about Trademark here.

And now … Google NoteBook

Welcome to yet another service from Google. Google Notebook. Google Notebook is a nifty little tool that can be used to keep notes !

I don’t know about other people but I have a habit of saving my thoughts all the time. I have an assorted collection of text files, doc files, html files, chits, post-its and what not with all my notes and random thoughts on em. I was wondering how to organize them. Yesterday only I saved a few as drafts on this very blog. Google Notebook might be the answer …

The installation is easy. You download a 140 odd Kb file from their server, install it and you are done. It also informs that you can uninstall it from Add/Remove Programs any time you want and on top of everything else, it’s very small and fast.

One of the best things about Google Notebook is universal accessibility. You could save your notes and view them anywhere in the world. All you need is Microsoft Internet Explorer and a Google Account. Once a notebook is created, it’s kept as private and no one has an access to the. Of course these notebooks can be made public also. You can just send an url to a public notebook to other people and let them view your notebook. My public notebook is located here.

However, Notebook is still in the Beta stage and they are working on it. Few features are still under development. Search – the backbone, is not functional as yet. They say “Search will be available in a few days”.

Yet another handy tool from Google and yet another reason I want to work with them someday 🙂

The Google AdSense website is temporarily unavailable

I thought I would check my account on adsense and here is what I found …

The Google AdSense website is temporarily unavailable. Please try back later. We apologize for any inconvenience.

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The same text was written in 20 odd languages … !!!

On further investigation, I found this page located online here.

EDITED LATER:
This post was wrecking havoc with the formatting of the blog. The text has been removed and can be found at the link.

Do you GooglePage?

GooglePage is yet another free service from Google. This is a clone of webhosting, you can create, save, share your stuff with the world.

GooglePage gives you 100 MBs to store pics, audio files, video files, HTML documents and what not. The entire thing is ad free and runs as fast as a rocket in orbit around good old Earth. The best part is no limitation on file types. I tried uploading an exe and it went in a jiffy. I am not sure about the size and hosting bandwith but would test in some time and post here.

Saurabh Garg @ GooglePage 🙂

I just wish that someday someone at Google would spot a bright young talent and ask the talent to join google make web a better place to hang out 🙂

Google Pack, A Message from GMail and some Attitude

I really love people behind GMail. Here is a screenshot of a message from them. Amazingly cool attitude !

And I just got the link for Google Pack!. It has everything from a web browser to an antivirus to an image management tool to an instant messenger client to a popup blocker to anything else. Basically you install Google Pack on a newly formatted PC and you can do all the work in the world ! Infact the line on their homepage says “Free! Download the essentials to make your PC just work: Google Pack“

I am waiting for an application like Open Office to be included in the pack. My other favorite company is going to have a very tough time in the future. I guess all they need is an operating system and an office suite to lock horns with the Big M. Lets Us C !!!!

Bug with GMail

I am very proud to announce that I have found a bug with Gmail. Yes … a bug.

When two different people send an email to only you and the subject line is exactly the same, GMail treats it as same conversation and clubs them together.
This document on GMail Help says that “Gmail groups all replies with their original message, creating a conversation.”

I think a conversatin is only identifiable with the recepiants and the subject line. The subject line can have standard modifications (such as Re:, FW: etc.) which are ignored by GMail when creating conversations. So if two entirely different people send in their mails to same group of recepiants with the same subject line, GMail would treat it as same conversation and club the two. The email contents could be different. In effect the entire point behind having a conversation is lost. We are not clubbing related information but clubbing unrelated information !

Time for some fixes… !

Windows Live vs Google Reader

Microsoft happens to be my favorite company. Google is a close second. Google a new company, revenues from advertising, Microsoft a behemoth, revenues from software, both trying to get the best of each other.

For a past few days, I have been grappling with that ultimate feedreader. I initially started with FeedReader until one fine day it somehow managed to delete all the feeds without even asking me. I lost all the news clippings etc that I had saved over few months.

Next in line was good old Windows Live. It works fine, is feature rich and easy to work with. Apart from just a normal feed reader, it is host of things bundled together. It would be a messenger, email console, antivirus and what not all in one interface.

And finally I just stumbled across Google Reader. Amazing piece of web based software. However as all the Google initiatives, this is also in Beta stage. One needs to sign in to google with the regular account to have fun with this ultimate feed reader. Google Reader looks a bit buggy as of now. When you add or delete a feed, you need to re-login to see the effects. In due course of time, it might get better with all the research and development happening at Google.

As of now, FeedReader is certainly out of picture. It is very hard to choose between Windows Live and Google Reader.

Linkxxx

links to all the previous posts !

Yahoo vs GMail

And Finally Yahoo is offering 100 MB spae for EMails – FREE.

Looks like a BETA service in the market has led to the beginning of the end of the GIANT.

The most striking of all has been a SEARCH button on top of the Yahoo Mail.

Another interesting thing to note would be absence of image based advertisements on the top and left side. These have been replaced with TEXT BASED adverts.

Basically they ar trying to counter The USPs of GMail. GMail was built as a Search Based EMail service and Text Ads. Yahoo is trying to implement Search and they have already replaced the adverts with Text Ads.

The new interface looks good. Let me test the service for few more days and I would be writing a detailed report on it 🙂

To Be Contd… (Last edited on 15th June 2004, 2000 Hrs IST)

Keywords for Search Engines: GMail, Google Mail, Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, 1000 MB Storgae, 1 GB Storage, 100 MB Storage, Saurabh.

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Lost on the Internet, Found on Search Engines

They say that once a website has ben launched, its lost forever in the cyber space. Its like a blackhole that sucks your page in, never allowing it to come out. The only ray of light in the dark lost world is links through differnt websites and Search Engines like Google etc.

For the past 30-31 days (11 May 2004 – 11 June 2004), I have monitored and kept record of people using Search Engines and coming to the weBLOG. Following is the list of Keywords used to find my weBLOG on the Internet…

Google: ben_mario_piano

Google: jyoti sahu

Google: scmhrd

Google: chinkis

Google: prateek+site:blogspot.com

Google: manmohan+singh+press+conference+thursday+transcript

Google: 1000+mb+mailbox

Google: blogspot+sg

Google: IIM+Waitlist

Google: blogs+fms+delhi

Google: sonali+garg

Rediff: SCMHRD

Google: uff+kay+jadoo+mohabbat+hai

Google: Saurabh+Garg+IIM+A

Google: Saurabh+Garg

Google: saurabh+gmail

Google: sandeep+dixit

Rediff: SCMHRD

Google: scmhrd+blog

Google: shweta+garg

Google: IIM+topper+2004

Google: blog+interview+ISB+MBA

Google: waves+noida+hum+tum

Google: waves+multiplex+noida

Google: nitin+pachauri+yahoo

Google: website+of+waves+multiplex+in+noida

Google: ims+simcat

Google: noida+multiplex

Google: waves+multiplex+east+delhi

Google: friendship+quatos

Google: The+Taste+of+India+at+Waves+Noida

Google: download+kya+aap+closeup+karte

Google: India+Congress++young+foreign-educated

Google: MOVIES+RUNNING+AT++WAVES+MULTIPLEX+IN++NOIDA

Google: centrestage+mall+noida

Google: priyanka+mehta+MDI

Google: sandeep+dixit

Google: Sonali+garg

Google: dollor+against+rupee

Feedster: gmail

Google: sex+in+nirulas

Feedster: gmail+trade

Google: kya+aap+closeup

Google: kabhi+aisa+lagta+hai

Google: kabhi+aisa+lagta+hai%22%2B%22lucky+ali%22%2Bdownload

Google: kabhi+aisa+lagta+hai+lucky+ali

Google: abhishek+mishra+IMS

Dogpile: kabhi%2Baisa%2Blagta%2Bhai

Google: man+ki+lagan+lyrics+by

Google: nidhi+garg

Google: saurabh+ganguly+fan+club

Google: lucky+ali+new+song+kabhi+aisa+lagta+hai

These do not include visitors from websites like PagalGuy and BuildtoLearn and Blogger and Blogger Profiles and Orkut, Blogwise, HaloScan etc.

To Be Contd… (Last edited on 15th June 2004, 1200 Hrs IST)

Keywords for Search Engines: SEO, Search Engine, Keywords, Saurabh.

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GMail – The new face of EMail

GMAil has given the POWER to invite three other people to EVERY current GMail user. What are you waiting for? Catch hold of a friend with GMail soon !

Here are few things good about GMail 🙂

1000 MB Storage Space 🙂

The biggest thing associated with GMail would be the amount of space they offer. Easily 100 times more than the 99.9% of free EMail Service Providers. You could go on and on and on and never fill up those 1000 MBs.

No need to delete any message. Helps in maintaining records and contacts. You don’t have to open up huge archives of backup fromn outlook and look at them when everything is available on a clikc of mouse anywhere in the world. It would also eliminate the need of exporting all EMails to a outlook file and burning them on a disk and carrying it along.

Search Based EMail

Gmail is differnt from other EMail Providers in yet another way. GMail is Search based EMail system. You don’t have to make stupid folders and sort your mail according to the when you can use the excellent Google Search Algorithm on your own EMail Inbox !

Text Advertisement

As they nothing in the world is for free, neither is GMail. They would scan your EMail for certain keywords and then display related advertisements. And please mind it this is NOT an invasion on your privacy. No human ever reads your EMail. And infact as far as my computing knowledge goes, they wont take the hassles of reading/scannign through the entire EMail. They would just look for certain keywords like Travel, Shopping etc. and deliver advertisements. These advertisements are inded at times benefecial and might just help you apart from generating revenue for GMail.

Another point in favour of text based advertisement would be the small time it takes to load. An Image file would be very heavy and might take ages to load on slow internet connections, where as text isas light and as fast as it gets.

Social Status

Since GMail is still by invitation and very few people have access to it, you could brag about how good GMail is and its features and people would give you the stage and let you do all the talking as if you are an expert on rocket science.

Ever since I had the power to invite people for GMail and I have told about this to friends, all my long lost friends have strated to come back to me. Every now and then someone would pop up on Yahoo or MSN and say “Hello, do you remember we studied together in the First grade in Rochester?” And I havent steeped out of Delhi, India ever in my life.

Thumbs Down 🙁 Few things against GMail…

1. You need to have the latest Web Browers. But again to deploy the new age technology behind GMail they need to use the best and the latest available browsers available.

2. I get a error message regularly. The frequency of this REGULAR message is about three or four times in an hour.

But again… this is not a big deal and could happen and infact does happens all the time on other EMail service Providers.

The original version of the image file posted above can be seen at http://www.ubg.buildtolearn.net/saurabh/gmailError.jpg.

And just in case someone wants to contact me, I can be reached at septemberthe22nd+gmailinvite@gmail.com :). I still have 5 (yes FIVE)invites left 🙂 Although I have decided that three people to get it would be Gaurav, Shubham and Uday. What about other two? May be the person who wants to trade it for something good…? Like a DigiCam? Let’s see…

To Be Contd… (Last edited on 12th June 2004, 2200 Hrs IST)

Keywords for Search Engines: GMail, Google Mail, Gmail Invite, Invite for GMail, 1000 MB Storgae, 1 GB Storage, Invititation for GMail, GMail Swap, Trade GMail, Exchange GMail, Saurabh.

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You’ve Got GMail

GMail.Google.Com, the latest in the EMail technology is here and by the look of it, It is going to stay for a long long time.

Apart from features like 1000 MB mailbox and 10 MB EMail attachments, what it would essentialy do is take business off all the other mail ervice providers as the amount of storage they offer is easily 100 times more than the nearest rival. It would make people used to having huge Mailboxes and taking out other smaller providers out of business.

The user interface is very very convinient to work with and I found it very very good. Althought I try to make sure the thing is good before I recommend it, GMail I think does’nt needs to be checked. It is very very good and must have for everyone.

There were talks about Google reading your personal EMails and ths invasion to privacy but again the talks originated with the people who were unaware of the Google’s AdSense technologoy wherein they scan the messages with the help of computers and scan for the frequecny of certain keywords. In a way yes, they do read your EMail but the entirte process is carried out by computers with no logging what so ever.

And as they say nothing is for free. If you want to super so powerful, feature rich technology of GMail, you gotta compromise and I would say it’s not even a compromise. There is no danger to anyone’s privacy.

Thats all I have to say about GMail as of now. I would add things as and when I get to know them but I would like to take this oppurtunity to thanks Google and Blogger for selecting me as one f the first people to test GMail.