Site Network: Personal | My Company | Artist projects | Shop

 

Musings about my first love - Technology !





GTalk now provides the invisible model option
Thursday, May 29, 2008

Probably one of the most important features I saw in chatting apart from chatting was the option of ‘invisible mode’. It lets you to have an important chat without everybody bombarding you with pings and hence your screen. It has been a strong feature that was missing in Gtalk and I know about many people who didn’t used to come online on Gtalk, me included, as everybody would be seeing you and hence it ends up a time consuming thing, especially when you have come online for some work on Gtalk.

But then voila, Google has now brought this option in its latest version of Gmail chat. For the people using AIM in Gmail (Google allowed AIM clients to be Google chat compatible few months back), invisible mode also makes them appear signed out on the AIM network. Invisible mode is one of the most requested chat features and so it’s a much awaited addition, starting in Gmail Chat, and in the future all Talk clients.

But at the same point Google’s official Gmail blog has mentioned that the chat may not be useful if lot of people go off line. So do give a feedback to them in case you have any opinion on this…

Labels: ,

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

posted by Jas @ 8:31 PM, ,






HTTP -> Web -> Web 2.0 -> Shift
Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Internet has been seen as an invention as significant as discovery of uses of fire. These inventions/discoveries change the entire path on which the future of not only humans but also of the earth. But then with every such discovery/invention is attached the front runners, the laggards and the ones who doesn’t want the new change at all or may desire to be in oblivion of it. Fate of internet has been no different.

Web2.0 has brought in as much confusion as the benefits. It is changing the habits of the people without them knowing if that is a health practice or not. Recent studies have shown that more and more number of people have been discarding the newspapers as the source of news/info. People have started going to blogs and social bookmarking sites for the same. Its fast, it’s visually appealing, tangible, customized and interesting. But then there is what I call a ‘baggage attached’. When one decides to search for a news on such platforms, one is actually going to a mega mall of news to pick the things one likes. There will be many brands (read source) of the item (read story) wanted and one gets to choose various brands of same item, or maybe with different flavor – say spicy, Page 3, thriller etc. But what baggage that is contained is that you end up spending more time, looking at the variety, additional flavors. You may never be able to find the actual item you wanted and may end up buying/consuming the one that is flashy and catchy.

And not only habits it is also the understanding that is yet to mature. The older websites were ranked on the parameter of page views. You may see huge amount of money being pumped in various web2.0 startups. But in middle of this Web2.0 craze people are forgetting to check the feasibility of revenue. Page views won’t give a real picture of the success/ following of the website. Technologies like Ajax, Rich Media and widgets are making this parameter a loser.

The technologies today are trying to make the communication between server and communication low while making the change /page load on customer end minimal. All info requested is loaded on the page asynchronously and without letting user have to reload the entire page. So effectively there was a zero page load over here when user looks for additional information. Hence companies like AC Nielson have already started looking at other indicators like unique visitors, time spent on site per visit, no of clicks per visit etc as better metrics to drive the business goals.

As they say, shift happens!

Labels:

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

posted by Jas @ 7:55 PM, ,






Yahoo all set to GLUE you to its new search
Monday, May 12, 2008

Yahoo has released a new type of search result for India called “Glue Page.” Instead of the usual text listing, some queries – like blog, Taj Mahal or asthma – will now trigger a comprehensive and very visual result page. This page contains different elements laid out in boxes; there’s “normal” search results, encyclopedic information from health sites or Wikipedia, news results, YouTube videos or Google blog search results (yes, they’re integrating results from competitors, though Google is also a partner of Yahoo in some areas) and more.

This is a very interesting prototypical service; part meta search engine and part original results from Yahoo, and a bit like Google’s universal search approach that brings in results from images, videos, maps, news, or other sources as appropriate. It is also similar in appearance to Ask since its redesign last summer.

What is interesting is that the option is available only in India, maybe because its result of Indian development center. Also its not available for all results but is only triggered in the “glue” approach when the topic is broad enough to yield lots of results from diverse services.

Yahoo Glue only works for certain categories of searches (sports, travel, entertainment, health, stocks, and tech), but it does produce a more satisfying experience than the traditional list of blue links. The only issue is that the results take a little bit longer to load. But humans are visual creatures and we respond better to the visual display of information. Yahoo Glue brings in results in three different panes, both from Yahoo and elsewhere. They can be images, videos, Wikipedia entries, HowStuffWorks entries, sports stats, and news, and results from other sources.

And the dynamism is the beauty of it. Search for the “Taj Mahal” and you get pictures and videos of the Taj Mahal, and a link to the Wikipedia entry. Search for Angelina Jolie and you get a bio, pics, YouTube videos, music charts, news, and results from Yahoo Answers. Search for “soccer” and you get league tables. The traditional link results are still available in the narrow left-hand column, but you almost ignore them.

Labels: , ,

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

posted by Jas @ 11:48 AM, ,