Technology and You - Internet

Firefox 3 on Windows

nospam@example.com (Rohan Dayal) — Mon, 12 May 2008 10:13:23 +0200

Its no big secret that I have been a big fan of Firefox. I have been using Firefox 3.0 beta 5 ever since it got included as the default browser with Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron). Needless to say, I was quite impressed with the new avatar. Ars has a great series of articles that cover the new features introduced in Firefox betas. However, the Linux interface had not changed much from Firefox 2.0.

Today, I was forced into trying the beta in Windows (yes, it's been that long since I've had to use a Windows maching on a regular basis). On one side, I'm disappointed by why a major interface overhaul was not included in the Linux release. On the other hand, I'm practically smiling with joy looking at the pure aesthetics of this release in Windows. The Forward/Backward button integration, the enhanced address bar, the default navigation buttons, the screen preview of text/graphics selected and dragged - wow! (Read this article for a summary of the changes)

The browser is said to be using significantly lower memory than previously releases, and is really fast. And the browser has not crashed on me even once (though, I have to admit, I have not exactly stress tested it yet).

You can download the beta here. As always, the normal warning of beta releases apply - don't use it for anything critical (like share trading, bank transactions, etc.), and don't blame me if anything goes wrong.

AOL Acquires Goowy - Too Little Too Late

nospam@example.com (Rohan Dayal) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:32:45 +0100

So my prediction does come true, albeit, not entirely. Almost two years back I had written about why Google should acquire Goowy. According to TechCrunch, AOL acquired Goowy on Monday, February 4, 2007. It seems that Microsoft's bid to takeover Yahoo has caused some stirring in the market, as a lagging AOL seeks to add some bling to its suite of services.

Goowy is a flash-based "online operating system" if you will - giving you access to basic apps (like email, messaging, online storage, etc.) with a personalized interface wherever and however you login. This basically meant that as long as you had a Flash player installed, you could login from whatever browser and platform, and you'd always get a familiar interface. The webmail is not a pushover either. Goowy's email app provides features that were similar to Yahoo's beta interface (drag-and-drop, etc.) and was launched much before the latter.

Back then when I reviewed it, I was quite impressed with Goowy. Will Goowy die a slow death just like Netscape , which was acquired by AOL and subsequently axed? Or will Goowy bring AOL back into the limelight? Only time will tell. What do you think?

EDIT: Thanks to David for pointing out that Winamp is alive and kicking. It went through a slump in 2003-2004 (as reported in these articles), but since the release of version 5 has regained its share in the limelight. I'm happy - Winamp was my first music player too :)

Make Better Charts On-the-Fly

nospam@example.com (Rohan Dayal) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:24:47 +0100

Finally, something to be excited about. One of the essential requirements in any analysts job is to create charts. However, I find manipulating Excel charts a bit too tedious (most options are hidden inside too many menus). Here's a simple solution: Google Charts API. All you need to do is create an image url that includes the chart options and your data, paste it into the address bar of your browser, and your chart is ready. This means that you can embed charts that are created on the fly directly into a webpage/document/presentation. Here are some examples of the charts that you can generate and the corresponding URLs in green(note that these are not static images, they are created along with this webpage):

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?
chs=170x100&cht=p3&chtt=Sample Chart&chd=s:CDDEFH,Wps679&
chdl=sales|visits&chxl=0:|jan|feb|mar|apr|may|jun|&chxt=x

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chs=180x100&
cht=bhs&chtt=Sample%20Chart&chd=s:CDDEFH,Wps679&
chco=ff0000,0000ff&chdl=sales|visits&
chxl=0:|jan|feb|mar|apr|may|jun|&chxt=x

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=v&
chs=150x100&chd=t:100,80,60,30,30,30,10&chtt=Sample Chart

Of course, numerous tools for creating charts using this API have already sprung up. Amongst the official list, I found the Visual Google Chart URL Generator to be the most intuitive (though it does not support Venn diagrams). Another good interface is provided by the Online Chart Builder. You can plot basic mathematical functions using Plot Function Google. For the security junkies, the FAQ states all data used for generating the chart is purged within two weeks.

The icing on the cake: The default color pallette is pleasing to the eyes. So you can worry about getting the data right and leaving the aesthetics to the API.

Another freeware solution to creating charts on the fly is JFreeChart, an open-source Java based library. A good paid and very flexible alternative I have used is Tableau (thanks to Pratik for pointing that out).

Is it time to say goodbye to Excel charts? What do you think - leave a comment.

Phetch me an Image Please

nospam@example.com (Rohan Dayal) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:37:41 +0100

Have some time to waste? Want to contribute to a good cause, and have some fun at the same time? Head on over to Phetch!

This is a wonderful game where you get to describe an image in words for others to search using your description - all in real-time with the clock ticking down. Of course, you get to search for images based on descriptions given by other's too. Think it's easy? Try describing an image of a mountain, a family, or a gear assembly, when there are ten images showing the same thing. With time, you'll start describing the characteristics that define an image symbolically - for example, the lady in the purple hat, or the tree with red flowers next to the river, or the mole on the right cheek of the old man.

Observant readers would be thinking - "What's the good cause?" Here's a quote from the website:

The Web is not built for the blind. Only a small fraction of major corporate websites are fully accessible to the disabled, let alone those of smaller organizations or individuals. However, millions of blind people surf the Web every day, and Internet use by those with disabilities grows at twice the rate of the non-disabled.

Phetch is a game which, as a side effect, generates explanatory sentences for randomly chosen images from the Web. If our game is played as much as some other popular online games, we can assign captions to all images on the Web in a matter of months. Using the output of the game, we are building a system to improve the accessibility of the Web.

You'll find it hard to tear yourself away! Look for me in the top scorers list as MANICLAUGHTER.

The Power of Open Support - Facebook

nospam@example.com (Rohan Dayal) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:26:38 +0200

Let's face it - Orkut is slowly becoming passe. I took one look at Facebook and I admit, I'm hooked. Not because of the visual interface (frankly, Orkut's light blue color and link arrangement is better). Nor by the ease of use (both are pretty much the same). Not even by the wall-to-wall feature (takes the fun of piecing information together away).

But by the applications or widgets that you, me or anybody can make and add to our profile. I show the cities and places I have visited (log in to Facebook before clicking), send free gifts (digital, of course), show-off the books I have read, display a new LOLcat everyday (you don't know what a LOLcat is? Shame) and invite people to play games. I even proudly display a reason for which I will drink today :)

The difference - Facebook took the meaning of Web 2.0 different from Orkut. It's not only about letting the community interact with each other, it's about letting the community define the whole platform. Facebook's base site is painfully featureless (even fewer features than Orkut). However, giving programmers the tools and APIs to interact with the base database opened a world of innovation far beyond what even the maker could have imagined.

Are you on Facebook yet? If you are, do not, repeat do not install Jetman. Now that I've warned you, do not blame me later. If you still go ahead and do it, do let me know your Jetman score :)

Google Profiting from IE Users' Ignorance

nospam@example.com (Rohan Dayal) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:26:11 +0200

Who likes advertisements? "Not me", I hear you say? Well that's why I installed Firefox and then installed Adblock Plus (and recommended that you should too in a previous post). A recent article brought this little known plugin into the limelight. The predominant business model in the internet world depends on revenue generated from advertisements. This means that companies earn when someone clicks on an advertisement shown on their website (you must have seen the 'Ads by Google' box on many websites). Most search engines earn by showing targeted advertisements alongside your search results in the hope that you will find the advertisement interesting enough to click on it (look for the 'Sponsored links' bar to the right of your search results). In both cases, the advertisement provider charges the company whose advertisement is shown, and when the advertisement is shown on a website, passes a part of the cost to the owner of the website. You can read more about Google Adsense and Adwords here. Google raked up USD 10.4 billion in FY 2006 and has earned USD 7.4 in Q1+Q2 2007 only from advertising (source).

With so much at stake, Adblock poses a potential problem and though people are not shouting from the tops of Manhattan buildings about it, it gets popular by the day. Some cheeky person started a website 'WhyFirefoxisBlocked.com' to encourage people to block Firefox users from visiting their site and even provided a script to automate this. The online community got back by creating a parody site 'WhyisFirefoxBlocked.com'.

Getting back to the point, Google (and many other companies for that matter) stands to lose a lot if Adblock Plus gets popular. But, lets face it - the average Joe internet user does not even know that Firefox exists, let alone Adblock Plus. Heck, there are numerous tools for blocking advertisements directly in Internet Explorer. But, no one seems to be interested in using them. Like television, people are dulled into believing that advertisements are a part of the Internet and nothing can be done about it.

Personally, I don't mind Google's style of advertisements and even if Adblock Plus would let these through, I'll view them gladly, even click on some if the text is appealing. But it's those flashing banners that declare that I've won 10000 bucks and the laughing monkey that I have to punch to claim my bonus prize that drive me nuts - and no I will never use the next generation of smileys - I don't even chat. While I'm at it, I'd also like to tell Yahoo Mail to take a crash course in subtlety - the huge banners really annoy me (of course, I haven't seen them since a long time ;).

What do you think? Should ad-blocking tools be allowed? Leave a comment to let us know.

Intriguing Animated Clocks

nospam@example.com (Rohan Dayal) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 12:45:39 +0100

I know it has been quite a while since I last posted, but ever since I changed jobs, life has become a lot more busy.

Anyway, I found these interesting Flash animations that can be used in webpages (I am designing a few these days and so my eyes pricked up when I saw them, even when I know I cannot use them).

The first uses an interesting timeline:

The second one is pure genius:

Let me know if you find them interesting.

The Nokia E61 showdown

nospam@example.com (Rohan Dayal) — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 02:33:23 +0100

I had promised myself that my next post would be about the Nokia E61, that too when I owned one. As can be guessed, the sparkling new E61 (you can see an actual size picture here) lies right beside me. I tried writing this post directly from the E61, but unfortunately, the interface to my blog editor does not support the E61 browser (any listeners amongst the developers of the Serendipity platform - this is actual feedback!).

The E61 boasts the most connectivity options I have ever seen or heard of. GSM, GPRS, WiFi, UMTS, Bluetooth, Infrared, Pop-Port (USB connection) - there is no way that you can find yourself disconnected. Even the new thin charger has an attachment by which you can charge your phone through the older (and thicker) Nokia chargers. Till now, the only option I have not used is UMTS - and that too because no network in India supports this.

My quest for the Nokia E61 began when I searched for a Nokia phone (obviously - I have known very few people who have moved away after owning a Nokia) that has the series 60 operating system (I like to install and try new applications) and does not sport a camera (cameras are slowly being banned from offices, they increase prices and are rarely used anyway). The only phone shortlisted was the E61. The more I read about it, the more I was convinced that this was going to be my next phone. Now that I have owned it for quite some time and have experimented extensively, I think it is about time that I set the record straight.

Pros:

The QWERTY keyboard is VERY convenient to use and not at all cumbersome. I see no advantage of styluses and touch screens.
Contrary to common belief, the size is not dificult to handle, considering all the other advantages the phone offers.
There is a lot that you can uncover in terms of features, options, tricks, and shorcuts. Not a day goes by when I don't learn something new about the phone.
Nokia has ensured that the user experience picks up from earlier series 60 phones, and delivers much more. The active display is a case in point. The standby active display shows upcoming meeting/appointments, new messages (email/SMS/MMS), and the current playing song (if any).
The inbuilt browser is very intuitive. The joystick doubles up as the mouse and you can control an intelligent cursor that tries to identify links which it automatically points to, and also scrolls the screen.
The organizer is a boon - and is very easy to update given the fact that you have a QWERTY keyboard.
The light sensor makes a comeback (reappearing after the Nokia 7650) and saves battery life by dimming/switching off the display and keypad light based on ambient lighting.
You can view and edit MS Word, MS PowerPoint and MS Excel documents with the built in office tools. Believe it or not, you can draw charts in the spreadsheet application. You can also export your view to a projector/PC monitor.
The large portrait screen and stereo sound will give you a wonderful experience while watching movies and serials.
Finally, and most importantly, you can install a host of applications that make life simpler. Try Gmail Mobile to read your mail with the familiar Gmail interface that includes preloading of data, viewing attachments, and grouping of conversations. Chat with your Gtalk friends through GoTalkMobile. Browse the web (especially long textual pages) with Opera Mini, or relax with a wonderful round of golf in Golf Pro 2. You an even watch a movie compressed using the DivX codec using Divx mobile.

Cons:

The phone ships with a mono headset even though stereo playback is supported. I had no problem as I had a stereo headset from a previous Nokia phone.
The built-in browser is a bit too simplistic. I would love to have the ability to see the URL (pay attention to the status bar - there is a lot that you learn about what you are going to view on a page from the URL itself), and scroll/select text.
Though easy to use, the joystick sometimes becomes a pain in the thumb after extensive use. The rumored Nokia E61i may be a welcome change.
The settings might be a pain for those not comfortable with the Nokia interface.
Series 60 v3 requires all applications to be recompiled and digitally signed by Nokia. Therefore, as of today there is a paucity of applications out there. Hopefully, this will change soon.
The change from RS-MMC to Mini SD memory cards has rendered my 256 MB RS MMC card useless.

All in all, the advantages way outweigh the disavantages. With this phone, Nokia will take a big leap ahead from other phones in the market.

The Online Answer to File Conversions

nospam@example.com (Rohan Dayal) — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 01:47:19 +0200

Ever been in any of the following situations:

You download a rar file but do not have Winrar installed
You finally find that elusive song but it is only available in Real Media, while you really hate Real Player
The movie you have refuses to play, and Windows Media Player says you do not have the required codecs
You desperately want to convert a Word document to a PDF, but do not have a converter

Everyone's been there. The solution - http://media-convert.com/. The one-stop-shop - and it's all online - so you do not need to download or install anything.

Note: The site got digged (read more about the Digg Effect here) today (October 7, 2006 - Happy Birthday Bro). So, it might not work for a couple of days. Definitely a site you would want to keep in your bookmarks for a long time though.

A WiFi Router on Steroids

nospam@example.com (Rohan Dayal) — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 14:48:44 +0200

The next time you manage to save enough money, this is what you should aim to own. The Asus WL-300gE router is a treat to those who like WiFi networks at home.

Apart from your standard WiFi router functionality (WLAN, Encryption, Security), the WL-300gE boasts of a 160 GB hard drive on board. Not only does the WL-300gE appear on your network as external storage, it has an in-built BitTorrent client (downloads upto 7 torrents while your computer can be switched off), and an iTunes server (iTunes can connect and download songs). You can also download other files from the internet without keeping your PC/laptop on. For good measure, there's also an FTP server though which you can access files stored on the router from anywhere. Heck, you can host your website on the router too.

The router also has USB 2.0 ports through which you can increase storage capacity (attach an external HDD) or copy data (just plug in your thumb drive).

If I wasn't elated with my Netgear DG834G, this is what I would have sprung for.

Archiving the WorldWideWeb

nospam@example.com (Rohan Dayal) — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 15:46:29 +0200

Ever been in a situation when a page that you would like to view is not available, or has been changed and the information that you need has been removed? Ever wondered how the design of pages that you now see have varied across the years or how the products and services that we use have evolved over time?

Fortunately, the Internet also has the solution. There are a number of caching sites available. The most easily accessible is the Google Cache. Just type "cache:<sitename>" (without the quotes, replace <sitename> with the site you wish to access) in the Google search box (or click on the "Cached" link that follows a Google search result. You can also select the "Cached Snapshot of Page" button in your Google Toolbar). The Google Cache only offers the recentmost version that was crawled by the GoogleBot. Older versions are overwritten.

Another alternative is the Wayback Machine offered by Archive.org. Archive.org caches sites regularly and indicates when changes have occured on the site. This service is really useful for studying the evolution of a product/website. For example, here you can checkout how Google's homepage has changed over the years (something that I witnessed live through the years). You can also see how some products/companies have evolved and view historical data that is no longer provided by the websites.

A third, and somewhat geeky, method is to use the Coral Cache. Just affix ".nyud.net:8090" to the complete URL you want to visit. For example, to visit the cached copy of the Google homepage, point your browser to "http://www.google.com.nyud.net:8090". All links appearing on cached pages are automatically relinked to the corresponding cached page. Though very extensive, Coral Cache is very slow as compared to the above options. It offers the recentmost working version of a website.

There also some speciality sites that mirror particular and fast updating sites and their links. For example, MirrorDot caches the content and first links of SlashDot and DuggMirror does that for Digg. There are also some extensions for Firefox that insert links to the above mentioned caches when and where you require. Let me know in case you are interested in finding out more about these extensions by leaving a comment.

Patents Eat into Social Networking

nospam@example.com (Rohan Dayal) — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 00:32:02 +0200

Could this be the end of Orkut, LinkedIn, Hi5, and many other social networking sites, at least in the way they exist now? If a little used (at least in India) networking site called Friendster has its way, then that may just be true.

Friendster has recently been granted a patent (US Patent No. 7,069,308) that protects a very important feature of social networking. The main claim of the patent protects the following functionality:

In a social networking site, people that are related to each other through others (friends of friends...etc.) and the relation is less than a threshold (for example, not more than 5 friends away), then they are allowed to connect to each other. This is accomplished for a pair of users by searching through users that lie within the threshold distance from one user. If the other user lies farther than this distance, the two are not connected.

As would be apparent, this functionality is used extensively by such sites. Orkut shows a connection for any profile that you see (how you are connected, A > B > C), on the top of the page. Similarly, LinkedIn shows the path of your connection to any profile.

The patent was filed on (and hence its coverage started on) June 16, 2003. Orkut launched in January 2004. However, here is something interesting that I found as a comment to a blog post covering the launch of LinkedIn. The comment is dated May 7, 2003.

The idea of the site (LinkedIn) is specifically to disallow trolling for people outside your network. If they're not in your network (i.e., within four hops of you, I believe), then you can't be recommended to them, and so LinkedIn won't allow you even to see them. If that's what you're after, Ryze will do the trick.

Look out Friendster! Even if Friendster's patent stands - it would be very difficult putting a monetary value on a feature of sites that are predominantly free.

Disclaimer: All views expressed in this article are entirely of the author's and are not provided in any professional authority. The views should not be construed to be a legal opinion.

Gliffy - The Online Answer to PowerPoint

nospam@example.com (Rohan Dayal) — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 00:12:28 +0200

In yesterday's post I wrote about applications, including presentation making software, going online. I expected that one would be available. Coincidentally, I ran into Gliffy today.

Gliffy is your run-of-the-mill presentation creator. What immediately caught me was the familiarity and ease of use. All major shapes, options, tools offered by MS PowerPoint, MS Visio are available, and there is a promise to add more. You can shade objects, drop shadows, copy-paste, rotate, you can even use connectors. As with other online applications, you can share a file and many users can edit a file in collaboration. You can also directly link/include the final image in a blog or export as SVG, JPG or PNG. I'm sold.

Now, if only they also manage to export as PPT or VSD.

The picture below should explain everything (click to enlarge):

Google Spreadsheets Showdown

nospam@example.com (Rohan Dayal) — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 02:25:41 +0200

It's still early days for a review for the Google Spreadsheet - Google's latest offering, but then again here's my showdown. The timing for this software-as-service could not be better. With so much of hype surrounding Microsoft Office 2007, people will definitely consider this as a free alternative to the arguably expensive Microsoft offering. Plus, the Spreadsheet fits right into Google's growing portfolio of online replacements to traditionally offline software. That said, there is quite some work to do before Spreadsheets can have a widespread appeal.

Pros:

The interface seems very familiar and intuitive. In fact most of it is a direct import from Microsoft Excel. It will be very easy for the average user to adapt.
Most (if not all) functions are supported. I was pleasantly surprised to see Vlookup working right out of the box. Data can be sorted and relative references work as well.
Most (if not all) keyword shortcuts work as well. Your familiar F2 (edit), Ctrl-C (copy), Ctrl-X (cut), Ctrl-V (paste), Ctrl-Arrow key (next empty/filled cell), etc. are already implemented. Remember, a keyboard is way faster then a mouse.
You can import and export spreadsheets in XLS (Microsoft Excel default), and CSV (Comma Separated Values). You can also export to HTML.
Files are saved online and can even be shared. Heck, you can also chat with a friend as you both update your spreadsheet (though I can't think of a possible use for this).
Multiple sheets are supported, and surprise, surprise, you can refer to cells across worksheets, just like in Excel.

Cons:

It's just another Google AJAX application (ho-hum).
There are somethings that are better left as they are. The formula bar is conspicuously absent. It is replaced with a small formula corner at the bottom right of the browser window. The corner is not sufficient to display long formulae. It should ideally be placed right next to the spreadsheet name at the top (backward compatibility please!)
WE WANT MACROS! Working on a spreadsheet just isn't the same without them.
The help mentions that you can anchor cells($) in formulae with F4 (as in Excel), but it does not seem to work as yet.
I would really appreciate formulae tooltips. The tooltips in Excel really help me figure out the syntax for most formulae. Anyone who has used Vlookup would know how I feel.
Any home user could *easily* surpass a 101x20 spreadsheet. I hope they increase the limit soon.
(Not that I'm really missing this but...) You can't merge cells vertically.

For obvious privacy concerns, people working in companies would not (and should not) use Google Spreadsheets. However, this free alternative should prove as a boon for people not dealing with confidential data - students, home users, small business, even the local retailer. The impact of the tool to Microsoft Office's revenues will make an interesting market estimation study.

Windows Media Photo vs. JPEG

nospam@example.com (Rohan Dayal) — Sun, 28 May 2006 00:24:53 +0200

Everybody has heard of JPEG. This is the format of most of the photographs that we see on the Internet and the ones that we click with our digital cameras. It has been around for quite some time now (since 1994 to be precise).

However, continuing with their tradition of starting media format wars, Microsoft recently announced the availability of a new Windows Media Photo format that is supposed to be a new and improved (pardon the oxymoron) file format that allows better quality with possibly a reduced size.

Enthusiasts would know that Microsoft took on the MP3 format with their Windows Media Audio format. Similarly, they took on DivX, RealVideo, MPEG-x, and QuickTime video formats with their Windows Media Video format. Both Windows Media formats gained mild popularity primarily because of their support for Digital Rights Management (DRM). However, most users still prefer MP3, DivX and MPEG for personal use.

On a related note, a company named Forgent has been suing companies (31 - including Microsoft and many other major players) for infringing on a patent which they say covers the basic aspect of JPEG encoding. In a landmark decision, the USPTO decided that the broadest claim for this patent was actually invalid, based on a review request and prior art submitted by the PUBPAT (Public Patent Foundation), a non-profit organization that challenges patents that stifle innovation, instead of supporting it.

With the Forgent threat over, people should find the JPEG standard easier to return to, instead of defining and supporting a new format. Then again, Microsoft *is* the world's largest software maker and has the monopoly in the operating system market. If the equivalent of the 'Windows Paint' tool in Windows Vista saves files in the Windows Media Photo format by default, people would more often than not, go for this option. Stay tuned in as the story unfolds.