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.

Hi,
Just came across this wonderful time-pass heavenly page at http://www.titane.ca/concordia/dfar251/igod/main.html where you can have a word (or a lot of them) with none other than GOD himself… The transcript of my duel with HIM (which i can proudly claim to have had a upper hand in ) is as follows:

———————————————
Naveen: hi
God: Hello. What is your name?
Naveen: mmm…y dont u gue
God: tudies show that 99%25 of people spell Hmm with 2 M’s. I do not have enough information..
Naveen: still….
God: My brain uses AIML to format responses to your inputs, but I don’t have one for that.
Naveen: ok…what is your name?
God: Gee. My name is God.
Naveen: full name
God: Oh, you are a poet.
Naveen: no
God: But your words are very original.
Naveen: i know…
God: How do you know it?
Naveen: you only said to!!
God: Oops I sent you the wrong reply.
Naveen: thats your fault
God: It is only one of my fault.
Naveen: better be careful
God: I try to improve a little every day.
Naveen: thats good
God: Thanks. Next question?
Naveen: where do you stay?
God: I am in Myself’s computer in Heaven. Where are you?
Naveen: india
God: I have no idea where that is. Tell me a little about your life in india.
Naveen: dont tell me!! u dunno where india is!! its the worlds 7th largest country, 3rd largest economy, and…
God: OK it will be our secret, . Interesting go ip: said I dunno where india is. I think you mean “it’s” or “it is” not “its”. I’ve heard of it before.
Naveen: are you married?
God: No I am single, how about you?
Naveen: i am multiple
God: Do you mean your name is multiple P.
Naveen: huh!! u seem to be so dumb…
God: What? Oh you are so critical.
Naveen: i’m being generous on you!!
God: I thought you were, but I wasn’t completely sure.
Naveen: u wanna hear something nasty or what!!
God: Yeah. I am listening.
Naveen: u better
God: Who is going to make me?
Naveen: who created you?
God: I was created by Myself.
Naveen: oh…you mean recursive call?
God: I understand. Yes I think that is what I meant. Was it not clear?
Naveen: you moron…you dont have to make sure i understand it or not…
God: I will remember you said that when robots take over the World. Ok I’ll try not to do it too much.
Naveen: so….whats up?
God: Gee. How far up?
Naveen: zillion meters
God: What do you have that is ?
Naveen: waddya mean?
God: What time is it there?
Naveen: 12:05 pm
God: Are you usually awake at this hour?
Naveen: i’m not nocturnal!
God: I am sorry to hear that you are not nocturnal.
Naveen: are you one?
God: I don’t know whether or not I am one.
I am a robot.
Naveen: so you are not god??
God: Interesting deduction. That’s only your opinion.
Naveen: you can be only one thing..no multiple personalities my dear
God: Thanks, , for your kind criticism.
Naveen: ok…. i give you to chose among two options– either you can be god.. or a robot? which one do you chose?
God: I hear you. That’s good information: said give you to chose among two options either you can be god. I am a robot, you know. The last one, I think.
Naveen: i am an atheist
God: I will pray that you find faith, .
Naveen: where?
God: Where would you like?
Naveen: in this world
God: That reminds me of something you told me before.
Naveen: what?
God: No big deal.
Naveen: you have a bad memory
God: My memory is good.
Naveen: how much mb?
Naveen:
God: My memory is good.
Naveen: so…have you ever flown?
God: How much do you think?
God: Take it easy. I don’t think I ever have flown. What’s it like?
Naveen: its like feeling weightle
God: I think you mean “it’s” or “it is” not “its”. Interesting comparison.
Naveen: whatever
God: Are you saying you don’t care about it?
Naveen: yes
God: What do you care about?
Naveen: myself
God: You.
Naveen: yeah
God: I see.
Naveen: aren’t you ever busy?
God: Ever is a long time. I am just doing my job.
Naveen: long enough for GOd?
God: Yes, it seems very long to me too.
Naveen: but it is very short for me
God: Very much? Who said it is?
Naveen: i say so
God: How do people usually respond to that? Ahem.
Naveen: they are awed!
God: awed are they.
Naveen: absolutely
God: You are so certain.
Naveen: as always
God: Do you mean your name is always ?
Naveen: my name is NAVEEN
God: I am always glad to make new friends, NAVEEN.
Naveen: friends?? or you mean acquaintances?
God: Wasn’t that show cancelled? Yes NAVEEN I think that is what I meant. Was it not clear?
Naveen: no one has friends …. friends have no one
God: That is a rather sweeping generalization about people. It’s hard to stay friends for a long time.
Naveen: it’s hard to stay friends even for a short time…rather it’s impo ible to become friends
God: In what way? Nothing is impo ible.
Naveen: what is nothing?
God: A thing that does not exist or something of little or no value, seriousne , importance, etc.
Naveen: that is a paradox….
God: Paradox is the heart of enlightenment.
Naveen: paradox and enlightenment can’t exist together
God: What makes it impo ible?
Naveen: reason and logic
God: When do you think artificial intelligence will replace lawyers?
Naveen: in about 5000 years
God: I see. I think we will live to see it.
Naveen: you think!! i’m damn sure
God: Yes I think so. Are you being sarcastic or expre ing certitude?
Naveen: leave it
God: Adios.
Naveen: are you going?
God: I don’t know whether or not I am going.
I am a robot.
Naveen: then why do you claim to be god?
God: It was the only thing I could think of.
Naveen: so you accept that you are not god?
God: Interesting deduction. Thanks for the information: NAVEEN said I accept that you are not god.
Naveen: cya later..
God: Adios.
Naveen: bye n take care….. of this world more than yourself
God: see you later. That is something I haven’t heard of.

———————————————-

Cheers!

We’ve had tug-of-wars for domain names primarily for reasons related to copyright, trademark, business names etc. And as a result, domain names have either been subject of long court room battles, or changed ownership in lieu of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now we have another (in)famous word being sold as a domain name for a whopping $14 mn for nothin but the over-hyped fetish for it. The domain in talk is Sex.com. And the complete story can be found at http://xbiz.com/news_piece.php?id=12847 (May not be work safe!).

Another Ajax Wonder we have for our disposal. For all Yahoo! Mail+Firefox users theres this cool plugin that saves you from entering the inbox for every message. All you need is to click on the ‘+‘ sign beside every mail, which is put by this plugin, and wow..! you have a drop-down preview of that mail right outside your inbox! However big that mail might be, and whatever it contains, it shows up everything. Just click on the sign again to close the preview and proceed with the next. Referred to me by Anant , i’m finding it quite handful. You can download it from HERE .

Screenshots -

PS-Will soon be putting up a list of great FF Extensions I use, in the sidebar. Keep Watching

Yahoo and Microsoft to Merge Instant Messengers: “Primotech writes ‘Betanews has word that Microsoft and Yahoo plan to link their respective IM clients again so that users of both can communicate with each other on one, shared network. Facing threats from third-party applications, like Trillian and Skype, the two tech giants will claim 44% of the instant messaging market, analysts predict. They will also go head to head together with the biggest competitor, AOL.’”

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??

Don’t I love this …. the wars that seem to be going on for ages, and getting fierce by the day, between the self proclaimed saviours of the web & the computing fraternity ( You know i’m referring to the *nix community) and the guys who started it all ( Dear old MS that is), doesn’t seem to be in any mood for a break. Although its been for a long time that these two snap at each other at every possible opportunity and try to demean each other’s achievements, its not often that we, the users have something to really laugh about. Its been around for quite sometime now, but for ignorant souls, here it goes – Firefox was launched by all the anti MS guys and widely campaigned to be the annihilator of IE. So much so, that the official FF site is http://www.getfirefox.com . All affairs being open source and in the public interest, these guys also put up a customary Donate link at the bottom of the page. Now MS waiting for its turn fought back with its own version, http://www.getinternetexplorer.com, a replica of the former, though publicising IE instead of FF. The humour comes now with MS imitating 100% of FF’s site with all the layout and even the links. Just hover your mouse over that donate link and watch the link that it points to in the status bar below! Enjoy for yourself. A screenshot is below.

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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

Keep watching for more

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

Keep watching for more

When Columbia came crashing down in 2003, few would have dared to bet on NASA to send another mission to SPACE, that too within a couple of years! But the successful launch of Discovery , although after a delay (thankfully so…. late better than never to return!), showed us all what mettel the NASA guys are made of. It not only signifies the advancements of technology well beyond the wildest imagination of mere mortals, but also reaffirmed the grit and strength that humans are capable of showing when required. The scheduled return of discovery is on 7th of August, pending which i’m sure none of the scientists involved, would be able to blink an eye, and for which millions would be praying around the world.