Monthly Archive for May, 2004

Published
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Gagan Kaul
on May 16, 2004
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Yahoo Mail - From 4 Mb to 100Mb

CNET reports that the web portal Yahoo will begin offering ‘virtually unlimited storage‘ for its paid e-mail customers and will upgrade free users to 100MB.

This new upgrade plan is part of an overall enhancement for Yahoo Mail that will launch this summer. Besides additional storage, the service will get a face-lift and tie in more Yahoo-branded services, such as Photos and Messenger. Its being speculated, that after Google announced its email offer, Yahoo sent emails to Yahoo mail customers in hopes of gauging their interest in receiving 100 Mb storage.

The competition between Yahoo and Google continues to heighten. In February, Yahoo dropped Google as its algorithmic search provider and instead launched its own technology. The companies also compete over distribution deals, as evidenced in Yahoo replacing Google search on CNN.com this week.

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on May 16, 2004
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Webpage Auto Generator

StrangeBanana is a program that creates a random webpage design. The page designs have, usually, never been seen before - they are created programmatically at random. Once you refresh the page, a new design appears. If you want, you can use the design for your own website (in that case you should save it immediately, because when you leave the page, you will never be able to get the same design again). An amusing concept, which ended up making me say, “Kewl” ;-).

Published
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Gagan Kaul
on May 15, 2004
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The Perfect PDA recipe

PDA prices and the innovation in bringing out newer models has been falling rapidly with the rise of laptop markets and introduction of tablet PCs. However, some companies are still working hard to recapture the market share, that they have lost out to other digital devices. Dana Blankenhorn has a wishlist for a perfect PDA:

# A keyboard as big as I can make it. You can do that with infrared, so I can pound on any surface and still type.

# A real voice interface. If I can train it to my handwriting, which is abysmal, I should be able to train it to my voice.

# The ability to transcribe recorded notes.

# An integrated camera, so I can snap the picture, do the interview, and get both words-and-pictures for editing when I want them.

# Make that a video camera.

# Tighter integration with all kinds of PCs, especially laptops.

# Integrated cell phones standard.

# Cognitive radio that will automatically use 802.11 or cell systems, whatever it finds.

I put this in my pocket, I take my pictures and short videos, I do my interviews, it transcribes my notes, and I can then use an infrared keyboard to turn that into a package I can deliver through a blog.

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on May 14, 2004
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Gmail and Orkut

After receiving an invite through Blogger recently, I joined Gmail, the email service from Google.

After I signed up and read some review sites, I got apprehensive and doubtful about whether Gmail was worth using. There were privacy issues and polices being critically discussed. And that was one of the biggest concerns. However, I was delighted to see Google react positively to such qualms and change its privacy policy to suit the concerns of the users. That simply proved Gmail to be more customer-centric rather than just being naive and dull ‘another’ email service.

The biggest draw is the storage space of 1 Gb that is being provided. I have exchanged around 150 mails through Gmail, and not deleted any one mail till now. The message display is fabulous, and has the display structure just like that of a message board. The reply box is right below the message, thus saving the users time and clicks. Another plus is the search function. You can search all your mail box by entering two or three keywords. I tried it using various combinations and found the search very accurate. A great email service indeed.

Orkut is a new community centric site, where you can only join in if you are invited by someone who is already a member. A nice site, with a lot of possibility for business networking and meeting up with old friends. Though there are many sites based on this model, this site has been growing in popularity and user base. I think the main reason is the association of Google with it.

Also in the offing from Google is the “Google Groups”. They will be on the same lines as Yahoogroups and the MSN groups. So finally, Google is taking its ’search-domain’ competitors head on, by starting services which are the USP of its competitors.

The competition hots up for the internet companies, but that is good news for internet users, who get all the goodies for free. And a whole lot of choices too.

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on May 14, 2004
in General
. 0 Comments

Puzzle Site

Mathpuzzle.com is a very interesting puzzle site. Check it out for some brainstorming sessions.

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on May 6, 2004
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Google Phone

Just read about a new gadget being planned by Google. Its called Google “phone” - a branded consumer appliance that would make it possible to get Google search results and ads almost anywhere. Such a product would extend the company’s search service far beyond the desktop computing market. The idea, like much of what the company is planning, is still secret.

Lets see how this idea shapes up for the company. Already, Google is hoping to cash in on the Gmail hype. The introduction of Google IPO is well timed, and is following the new bid-auction modus operandi. Well, there is still time to make final comments on the company, as the whole idea of net search and search engines is undergoing a complete metamorphosis right now. How Google fares in the longer run, is yet to be seen.

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on May 1, 2004
in General
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.mobi domain and mobile phone servers

The Seattle Times does an interview with Michael Wehrs, Director of Microsoft Mobile Computing division. He talks about some really interesting ideas which will change the way we use our cell phones. Talk about .mobi domain, using our cell phones as servers, smart phones … the list goes on. Imagine a phone five years down the line that has half a gigabyte of storage, gigahertz processors, screen technologies and battery technologies that get you at that level of performance through an entire day of use, devices that simply work on whatever area network is out there, and they’re smart enough to switch between them. All this is actually being researched and work is going on to make all this possible, and the usual rat race continues to out beat competition.

Some of the fiercest competitors in the business have already hashed out details of the domain project, including Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Nokia and Hewlett-Packard. The effort proposes to create mobile-specific Web sites that end in .mobi or .mbl though it still needs final approval.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

“We’re looking at alternate user interfaces. Right now, everybody views a phone as a 12-button keypad and that’s all you can really do with it. Some of the newer phones, (the Microsoft) Smartphone being an example, have softkeys which change their function based on what’s on the menu. There is going to come a time when there’s enough processing power on these devices to actually have a combined interface of input from a keypad but also some level of voice interaction, more than voice dialing.

If you create this new version of .com that will be the .mobi domain, you can do some very interesting things that mobile devices have unique capabilities of doing. Today, you can generally browse through a Web site on your phone but no one can access your phone as a Web server. If you have pictures stored on your device, the only way that you could share them with me is to actually send them to me as a message.

But wouldn’t it be easier if from my Web browser I could just browse to your phone and look at them? In order to do those kinds of functions … I need changes to the way the domain naming systems work. I need them to perform at levels that they currently don’t have to perform at.

I think the things that you will see are significant changes in user interface. The idea that you have to pick up and dial a phone probably will be gone 10 years from now. The mode switching between doing a data thing or a voice thing, that will all be gone. You’ll generally interact with your device via voice or via screen, but the idea that you’re doing either/or will go away. It will just be integrated in.

The devices will become combined and in general much smaller. The idea of personal area networks where devices share their capabilities and leverage each other, 10 years from now that will all work so that you may have a watch that you talk to. You may have just a headset that that becomes your earpiece and microphone. The actual phone will be something in your pocket or in your PC that you have with you, so it’ll find a radio network to use and let you connect.”