Google Homepage minimalistic to the core...

As I mentioned yesterday that Google is working on some new functionality with its homepage, it came out to be true and it is widespread now. From Yesterday morning Google homepage is minimalistic to the extreme. In the morning itself, I experienced this approach of Google.


I don't know what good is this function gonna do to Google except for some graphic work that might slow it down while loading or it might be the one that helps in faster loading of the page, I seriously don't know what's happening. Your comments are always welcome...

Google Fading Homepage - Minimalistic to the extreme...

Google is said to be testing out the new functionality of minimalizing its homepage to the extreme. They are said to be testing out a new fading in functionality(don't know why?) for their home page of Google Search. You will now be seeing just the google Logo and the search box. You can no more see the "Google Search" button or the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. These buttons are dropped from this experimental new Google Home page design.

This is said to be just an experiment and can't say if they stick to the same design. But there is this functionality where-in these buttons will return back when you move the mouse. Just check it in the video above.

Via techcrunch

Google chrome Themes by Artists.... Cute Move....

Slowly but steadily Google Chrome is winning hearts of net users. It is now targeting the areas where Firefox has been dominant and trying to master the trade. One such move is made yesterday and it involves Google Chrome 3, which comes with themes that you can download and install. Now they have intro-ed a new section called Themes by Artists.


This new addon to Google Chrome is such a cool thing. Its more like the themes addon for Firefox but here it is something different as you don't need to go to some other section and download them and install them. Chrome does all this for you and you can enjoy freely all the themes available. When you just press the "Apply Theme" button below the themes, Chrome automatically downloads the theme and installs it for you.


If you are in a doubt about how to access the themes in your Chrome browser, first update your browser to chrome 3.0 and then go to the tools section on the top right corner and then go to the "options" field and then select "Personal stuff" tab and in there you will find the "Get Themes" button. Upon clicking this button you will be directed to the themes page where you can play around.

Youtube down for maintenance...

Usually I am a big fan of youtube and all my video and music hunger is quenched by the illegal, copyright infringed videos of Youtube. As usual, today I tried to access some video song on youtube and when I searched for it, there was some error as the required search wasn't returned. Even when I clicked on one of the videos, I couldn't access anyone of them and I was worried if something was wrong with my system.

What actually happened was there was some maintenance going on in Youtube and that's the reason why I couldn't access any of those videos. Generally Youtube does informs in advance of a scheduled maintenance but not this time. Don't know why, may be I missed it.

Google says "Microsoft will pay you 245.00"!!!

Just type in "Microsoft will" into the Google search engine and there you will see the suggestions by Google that say, Microsoft will pay you 245.00. Crazy stuff. Just type in whatever you want and you will see some silly stuff coming up. Just thought to share with you. Stay cool and enjoy your weekend.

What if one day Google goes down??? Any alternatives !!!

What would happen if Google goes down for some time, may be a few days or a few weeks or months? What would you do? Don't panic, there are a lot other options even if Google dies out permanently. Here is a list of few of the apps which are a substitute to google's apps.

Gmail - Hotmail, Thunderbird, Yahoomail

Blogger - Wordpress

Reader and Pages - Netvibes, Bloglines

Docs & Spreadsheets - Zoho Office Suite

Picasa - flickr

Orkut - Facebook, MySpace.....and the list goes on...

YouTube - Yahoo Video, Metacafe

Calendar - Yahoo Calendar, MobileMe

FeedBurner - Feedo

Adsense - Adbrite, Clicksor

Knol - Wikipedia

News - BBC, Yahoo News

Talk - Messenger, AIM, MSN, Skype

Maps - Live Search Maps

Checkout - Paypal

Chrome - IE, FireFox, Opera, Safari, Maxthon

Search - Yahoo Search, Bing Search

But let me tell you something, before you migrate to any of these services, just backup whatever work you have in the Google apps, so you don't have to be sorry later to urself...

Google's Apps Status Dashboard - Just a share...

Google has provided an Dashboard for it's Apps, which indicates more or less the health reports of it's major Apps. This has come in the wake of Gmail's failure to launch on 26th of February. Though the problem was there just for few hours but it still affected a lot of users. Hence, this comes as a welcome gesture from Google to let it's users know the status of some important apps like Gmail, Spreadsheets, Calendar, Sites, etc.

Last week there was some problem with Gmail and I was first among those who discussed about the Gmail Outage and they have immediately updated on this apps dashboard regarding the issue and cleared it off pretty soon. Way to go Google.

Apps status Dashboard

What is Google Wave - Slight introduction, my way!!!

Yesterday every where in the news channels to newpapers to facebook and twitter, everyone was buzzing about the new Google Wave and its 100,000 invites but what exactly is Google wave. I will definitely not tell you what it is all about but can guide you to someone with more knowledge about it or someone who got hands-on this one.

Actually I was one of those early birds who asked Google for the new Google Wave access but haven't yet received any invite from them. It's ok I am not upset or something like that, by the way who cares for one............ Baaaaahhhhhhhhhhh I want an invite!!! BAAhhhh I want an invite, I am desperate, the world is gonna end....


Ok seriously in the words of Mashable, Google Wave is a real-time communication platform, which combines the aspects of e-mail, instant messaging, social networking, web chat, project management and wikis. Waves can be embedded on any blog or website. Just like a facebook application, developers can build their own apps within the waves.

Google Wave is an open source application which means it will be easily innovated and can be adopted by developers with less trouble. You don't need to upload a file or attach it, you can just drag and drop the files so that everyone else can access it. That's so easy.

Right now I don't have access to one account of Google Wave, hence can't divulge much information about it to you. But once I get access to it, I will give maximum information about it. Keep cool, you will get access pretty soon as well....

Google Wave

Why should we blog???

Why should anyone blog? Is blogging a fashion, is this a trend, is blogging done just to impress your girlfriend or to make others around you look stupid. None of the above is my answer. Why I started blogging? I clearly don't remember but I surely can say that it was my evergrowing curiosity to know what's new. This curiosity of mine has pushed me, rather dragged me into this trade.

Firstly, it was like a hobby for me to write some stupid things in my blog, then entered the new softwares that I used. I even blogged about politics, sports and stuff like that. But in the initial days, I did not take it seriously. But once my audience increased I started blogging on different issues and most of the time the words in the blog came from my heart rather than my mind. But I never thought this to be a fashion, trend or something like that. That's the main reason that I did not tell to anyone about my blog unless asked by them. A very few people know about my blog till date. But let me tell you, who ever knew my blog, they know one thing that there is no unrelevant hatred, questionable voilence, unreasonable use of filthy language.

But these days when I visit some blogs, they are either solely maintained for money or just as a fashion statement. I rarely find genuine blogs except for a few, where the blogger keeps his heart out when he writes something and you can very rarely find an objection in the blogs. But actually why should we blog?

Blogging brings out the inner self in you. You might want to show your anger on some issue, you might want to write what you like about a movie, or you might want to show your feelings on some issue but can't say that publicly. Here is a solution, the blogs help you vent out your anger, spread your love and show your feelings to the entire world. One final word, blog more not to hog the limelight but to flag off your inner feelings and race towards the eternal truth "Living Life King-Size"...

Funny !!! What search engine is God using???

Wonder what search engine is God using, may be he is using bing or Yahoo Search. This is so funny and innovative. God hates Google, that's what the sign says, I guess. LOL!!!

Via Giz

Orkut Today's Fortune... OK seriously where's the fortune guys???

Orkut Today's fortune:::

* The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.
* One of the greatest victories you can gain over someone is to beat them at politeness.
* Well-timed silence has more eloquence than speech.
* What we have to do is to be forever curiously testing new opinions and courting new impressions.
* Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.
* If you want to be loved, be lovable.
* The days are long, but the years are short.
* A well-directed imagination is the source of great deeds
* If fate means you to lose, give it a good fight anyhow.
* If you don't want anyone to know, don't do it.
* The Young have aspirations that never come to pass, the old have reminiscences of what never happened.
* Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.

All these sentences above came up in my orkut profile over a period of one month and none of them, basically not even one of them ever carried a fortune message for me. Of course I don't believe in all these fortune tellers but reading them will be an entertainment for me. But orkut is way behind in providing entertainment and not just that, they are filling me up with disgust with their silly fortune lines every day. "If you don't want anyone to know, don't do it", where's the fortune in this??? Are you fooling around with me or what???

Previously I told you how the fortune cookies entertain me with their funny fortune telling, but orkut fortune teller is no way near to them but it is just a bundle of crap telling. I hate you for this orkut, otherwise you are cool.

Fortune cookies

Will Gmail ever asks you, your home address???

I don't know who received this spam mail but he was graceful enough to share his experience with us. As confirmed by Gmail team, they will never ask you for your password or personal details through an e-mail sent to your inbox. This is the heights of spam by some loser who wants to extract info from you by these cheap tricks.

This pic is like a warning to all the Gmail and any kind of e-mail users against fraudulent e-mails like these. Never ever divulge in activities like these and don't ever get trapped by these tricks. If you are careless enough to give away your passwords and key information, then no attorney or no insurance company will save you from the fangs of the criminals. Keep safe online or else you know who will be the ultimate loser. Stay safe guys, Love you all...

Via Makeuseof

Happy 11th Birthday Google!!!

I don't know how many of you noticed the Google's homepage today where there is a change in Google's doodle with an extra "l" in place. This signifies the 11th birthday of our beloved Google. Long live Google. Love you!!!

Google

What's cloud computing? Trying to throw some light on it...

Ever wondered what the heck is Cloud Computing? Cloud computing refers to the use of Internet ("cloud") based computer technology for a variety of services. It is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualised resources are provided as a service over the Internet. Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them.

The concept incorporates software as a service (SaaS), Web 2.0 and other recent, well-known technology trends, in which the common theme is reliance on the Internet for satisfying the computing needs of the users. Often-quoted examples are Salesforce.com and Google Apps which provide common business applications online that are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on the servers.

The cloud is a metaphor for the Internet, based on how it is depicted in computer network diagrams, and is an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it conceals. Right now not many regular users of internet are aware about this cloud computing but as early as the second half of 2010 will see tremendous growth of public involvement in cloud computing.

Google and Microsoft are right now involved in an head-on collision based on cloud computing but the clear leader in this market as of now is surprisingly Amazon with its heavy user base and innovative strategies. Should wait and see what's cooking between these guys and how we are gonna benefit by these cloud wars.

Pic labnol

Source :: WIKIPEDIA

Picasa 3.5 released, now supports facial recognition and name tags....

I am one of those power users of Picasa and love its simple yet robust technology. I have been using it over years now and have become a slave of it. Of course I don't want you to become a slave but just wanted to throw some light on the newest version of Picasa 3.5 from Google.

Picasa is a Google's free desktop photo organizer/editor/uploader/viewer and everything else. It is easy to install and once configured will be the best photo organizing software. They have released this new 3.5 version of Picasa and guess what it supports facial recognition and you can give name tags to the persons in photos.




Here's the video that demonstrates what's new in Picasa 3.5 from official google blog. Also now, you can directly upload photos to the Picasa web albums directly from a camera card and a tool to use integrated Google map's pickers to geo-tag photos. what are you waiting for? Get your copy of Google picasa from the link below.

Picasa

Gmail outage for few users... can't access contacts and stuff!!!

I am one of those few users who are facing troubles with the outage of Gmail. Actually for me this isn't an outage but I can't access my contacts in Gmail. It reads out Gmail is temporarily unable to access your contacts. You may experience issues while this persists. This is crazy but still I know these things happen a lot.Google is definitely aware of this situation as it shows in its apps dashboard webpage. This thing has started around 10:30 AM EST and is still not rectified. I even tweeted about it and none were ready to accept that Gmail is facing problems.

If you want to know what is going on right now, then head over to the Google Apps status dashboard page provided by Google where they update every hour or so about the status of all their apps.

Google Apps dashboard

Search Engine of the 90's... HotBot...

This is the design of a search engine named "Hotbot" from the 90s. It was launched in the year 1997 and back then searching wasn't an easy task like now. With Google everything else changed in the land of search, but in the good old days, search was a heavy task with lots of stuff to put in.

Via Blogoscoped

Microsoft Bing Search Engine tops 10% market share in August!!!

Bing search engine from Microsoft is slowly making in-roads into the search engine market and in the process is eating away the share of Google search engine. The recently released market shares for the month of August by Nielsen, show that Bing search engine has topped 10% of the search market with an estimate of 10.7% share of the total search engine market and ranked at third position behind Yahoo(16%) and the search engine gaint Google(64.6%).

It will not take much time for bing to overtake Yahoo but to cut into the share of Google, it is not an easy task. To overturn Google Bing just doesn't need the technology, but innovation as well and definitely it needs a big fanbase to cross Google. Good Luck with that "BING".

via CNET

Google in 2002, in a 1991 browser...

This might bring a nostalgic feeling for a few of you, but not to me, because in 2002, I don't even exactly know the spelling of a computer, nor did I have a valid e-mail account. That is crazy but true.

The above pic is of Google in 2002, being accessed by a browser made in 1991. The browser is called WorldWideWeb which was later renamed to nexus. The browser was invented by Web's original creator Tim Berners-Lee. Didn't I bring back your old memories alive.

Via blogoscoped

Google Chrome 3, all that you need to know about....

Tabs List View in New Tab Page:

The first major change to the Google Chrome 3.0 as apparent in the above pics is with the "New Tab" page. Now the tabs support you to view either in thumbnail format or in a list view. Now this page is made more customizable than ever and the list view looks cool.


Rearranging and Pinning Tabs:

Also in the "New Tab" page every tab has a pin on the top left side of the tab and you can use this pin to make sure that the tab stays in its place. The tabs that you regularly use will never be lost again. You can now use your mouse to rearrange the tabs which was absent in the previous version and a pretty cool feature now.


The Improved "OmniBox":

One of the best features of Google Chrome is its search box aka address bar named the "OmniBox". Here you can directly type your webpage address or your search query and very quickly google shows your recently used web addresses, search results from Google, bookmarks, suggested sites and sites from your browsing history.

25% improved Javascript Performance:

As usually, with every new release of the Chrome version, Google has topped itself in the browsing speed category and Chrome 3.0 is no exception. The above chart shows what V8 engine does in the new Chrome 3.0. This helps in quick start up of the browser and faster loading of webpages.


New Themes for Chrome:

Last but not the least, the themes option. These Chrome themes were available to the beta users but now with Chrome 3.0, they are made available to general users of stable versions. There are some cool themes for all those variety lovers. You can try them out by going to the personal stuff page and click "Get themes". Once you click get themes you will be directed to a page where these themes are located and when you click "Apply theme", it will be downloaded and loaded into your Chrome browser.

Googleblog