Naveen's Journal

Slashdot Reports:

“Gmail was launched on April 1, 2004, and has revolutionized the way many of us use email. The interface has remained largely untouched since it launched, but get ready, it’s soon to undergo a change in what they describe as a ‘New Version’. …..”

So do we have in store another Google masterstroke? What more an average email user could have asked for – unlimited storage space, free POP access, super quick clutter free interface, among a host of others. Gmail has evolved into a lot more than an email service, as much as, not having an @gmail.com address being almost a blasphemy. And integration with other Google Services is just the cherry you’d want on your cake. I just can’t wait for the new version to come out, and the feature I’d want to be on top is a little more colourful interface (a true MS fanboy I am!). Remains to be seen when it is rolled out for public in general.

As i was about to announce the advent of one of the most revolutionary Google tools ( Google Analytics) , those guys were up with another can’t-afford-not-to-mention-stuff — GOOGLE BASE ! Whew…. that speed of churning out blockbusters would ceratinly put to shame all the holly & bolly maestros together. Well… first things first… Google Base is all about creating an Open Space – the term being true to the core. Letting users have their stuffs hosted online with toppings such as searchability, integration with other google services, and top of it all — FREE, is for sure an early Christmas gift. Not being able to test it yet ( there seems to be some problem on the server side) , it remains to be seen how user friendly the whole affair is. They say that bulk addition of items can be done by uploading XML files, and for the masses, there’s the no-fuss handy web tool allowing to add items, describe them and edit as you wish to. So what are you waiting for. Be your own webmaster and share all you have got…

Official Announcement of YAGG

YAGG=YET ANOTHER GOOGLE GOODIE

To complete the above, just follow the steps below –

1. Open google.com
2. Click ‘language tools’ link.
3. Write “Aishwarya’s mom is very nice” in ‘Translate text:’ textbox.
4. Select “English to Spanish” in the below combo.
5. Press Translate and wait for translation.
6. Now copy the translated text from the above text and paste it in the ‘Translate text:’ textbox.
7. Select “Spanish to English” in the below combo.
8. Press Translate and wait for translation.
9. Enjoy.

P.S. — The above hack is taken from Shabbir Bhai’s site Go4Expert‘s , this thread

Good going Aish

G O O G L E …. these are the 6 letters that flashed through your mind after reading the title of this post. HAHAHA. But it isn’t what i’m talking about. So claims Preview Seek , the newest kid on the search engine block, giving a full page description Here , about how it manages to make a claim that will pass on with most netizens as just another stab at Google and justifying scientifically that how it is better than google. Anyways, the frontpage of the site is catchy enough with minimum fuss and but for the colors, it resembles to that of google to a great extent. But the unique and quite useful features that Preview Seek has incorporated, definitely gives a reason to stand up and take notice of it. Specially the categorised search results and the real time search viewer link at the right most corner of the green bar ( It shows the search strings being submitted to the engine from all over the world in real time) are mentionworthy. The company seems to have collaborated with Wikipedia to provide information about the searched items (unless it does not want to get involved in some serious legal battles!) as the results are identical to those provided by the latter. All in all, a good package to start with, and if marketed aggresively, who knows we might have google to do some serious thinking after starting to get some competition …(Did you say “Microsoft and Yahoo are already there!”.. huh, i’m talking about competition, not copy-etition) . What say??

W.R.T this post wonder how quick i’ll run into double digit version numbers if MS keeps on emulating Google! The latest on the block is MS’s own Virtual Earth — needless to say, a take on Google Earth. God knows what on earth is making MS lift ideas one after another from Google and shamelessly incorporate in their system, but its for sure that Bill and Co. makes hell of a copier, putting even XEROX to shame! What’s left only i guess is the rechristening of Google Labs into something like …. MSN Labs !

Originals — >> Google IG Google Earth
Copies — >> MSN Start MSN Virtual Earth

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Wow……It can’t get better than this! Now we have two IT titans pitted directly against each other…One which till a few years ago was arguably the undisputed powerhouse of the Software world, and the other, which according to most has dethroned the former and is on course to become the best ever. The two Cos. in question are Microsoft Inc. and Google. Google with its never-even-dreamt-of kinda stuffs like Google Maps and Personalised Homepage (visit Google Labs for more) has become synonymous with cutting-edge technology, and now MS has developed its very own version of Google IG — Start (Preview), quite impressive i must say. Slashdot says, as is evident from a first hand preview – “It looks like Microsoft has quietly put up their version of Google’s start page. It’s interesting in several ways. First, the layout and use of javascript is strikingly similar to Google’s. Second, one of the few major differences is that there is no MS equivalent banner or other flashing indication that it is an MS site.”

Go Here to preview MS START

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