Forums or Blogs

Communication on the internet takes place in two ways. Public and Private. Private is through chatting email etc, whereas public is through forums and blogs.

Blogs

When it comes to blogs the emphasis is only on the post and the author. People generally don’t bother to go through the comments from other readers of the blog. Take for example this post on 3 idiots by Sagarika Ghose. [ Just a blog post which I read recently :)]  Here the author of the post is a professional journalist and shares her view on some topic which here happens to be the recently released movie 3 idiots.

If you look at the comments section of this blog post almost all the comments are about the views she has expressed and are directed to her. We do have a reply to this post option for all the comments here, but despite that the discussion is limited to the actual blog post. Not many responses are directed at other readers.

Forums

In an online forum, the emphasis is on the discussion. People from a specific group actively take part in a discussion here. An example which can be given here is the Pagalguy Forum which is the meeting place of hundreds of MBA students and MBA Aspirants of India.

A forum essentially allows you to post messages and comment on other messages. It is in structure similar to that of a blog, but the difference here lies in the fact that the discussion which takes place is not solely based on the orignial post. One essential requirement of all online forums is the presence of a large number of active contributors which you can clearly see in forums like Pagalguy. By the term active we mean contributors who create queries and respond to other queries.

In order to find peace among the chaos called forums one has to monitor it constantly.Every forum has a set of rules and structure which its users have to follow. A group of moderators and administrators have to regularly go through the contents of the forums and ensure that the forum rules are being followed.

Forums or Blogs?

Forums are an example of many-to-many mode of online communication whereas blogs are one-to-many mode of online communication. Both these are essential ingredients of the internet today and one cannot do without either of these. Judicial use of such sites has to be done to get the best out of each.

Interesting and Useful Google Chrome Extensions

Recently I made a switch to the new Google Chrome Beta browser since I was having some trouble with Firefox and also because I was looking for some change. Two major attractions with the chrome browser are its speed and its simplicity.

Though presently Chrome cannot match the number of Add-on’s which Firefox has, I guess it eventually will, since a large number of useful extensions are becoming available for Google Chrome everyday. He is my list of interesting and useful extensions.

Gmail Checker -Displays the number of unread messages in your Google Mail inbox. You can also click the button to open your inbox.

Google Reader Notifier -Displays the number of unread items in your Google Reader account. Clicking can show a preview popup or open your Reader account.

Adblock - The same features which were present in the Firefox Add-on. Blocks all advertisements on webpages.

Add This - This extension allows you to easily share, email, translate and bookmark webpages. You can configure the setting yourself or you can set it to autoconfig based on usage.

Send from Gmail - Do you get irritated when MS Outlook opens up each time when you click a ‘mail to’ id on a webpage.? Make Gmail your default mail application. It opens a compose window each time you click on a mail address on a webpage.

Chrowety, Chromed Bird - Excellent Twitter Extensions for Google Chrome. They come with a set of really useful features and both are easy to use. I prefer Chrowety for my regular usage.

One Number - A extension which lets you gather all google services in one button. Using this would eliminate the need for a number of other extensions in this list. Would be handy for those with a large number of extensions making the toolbar a bit crowded.

There are also extensions like the google wave notifier whcih might be useful for those who are actively using Google’s wave.

Gravatars for you

Gravatars are Avatars which you can use on your blogs, on other blogs where you comment and anywhere on the internet. Having an image associated with your mail ID enables you to easily use it in other blogs and websites without having to upload one on each of them.

Why am I telling you this?

This is because it gives you a complete blogging experience. Whenever you comment on other blogs you are given a plain image or a random image as an avatar. Instead, wouldn’t you like to have your image or an image of your choice follow wherever you post and comment? When I see comments on my blog posts I see a rather boring gravatar logo adjacent to the user’s name. I often wish that it’d be more interesting to have all my friends own an avatar for themselves and hence this post is an attempt in making them do so.

Just check out a small screen shot. Notice how having a gravatar gives that extra something to your comments.

The Change

Its hard to imagine that barely ten years ago we didn’t have any Wikipedia, Facebook, YouTube,  iPhone or even a phone for that matter. Much of the decade has been shaped by the internet and the next decade too will see the same sort of enormous change.

It was in 2001 when we got our first phone. A landline phone connection for which we had to wait for weeks. Within the next few years we have had a much greater number of mobile phones. Computers and other gadgets have become essential. Times are changing. And we got keep up with the speed at which everything is happening.

What people generally consider is that change will occur at the same pace it happened. Technology changes exponentially. There is a great pace at which everything grows now and what happened in the first decade of the millenium might happen in just a few years.

The rate of adopting new ideas is doubling each day. Both biology and technology are similar. They are both evolutionary processes.  They create a capability and use that capability to bring on the next stage. With better interaction and communication this growth is bound to accelerate.

It was barely a few years ago when I first sent an e-mail. Now mail, instant messages etc are a part of life. A few days ago I made a list of the trends which I’d like to see in the year 2010. These are impending changes. Even if they don’t occur in 2010, they eventually will…

Goodbye 2009. Welcome 2010.

Time is a continuous passage of time and it is we who divide it into years, months and so on. And  New Year too is nothing but just a noting of the passage of time. But the significance of this day is that is probably the only such occasion where all of us forget all barriers and come together in the hope that the year ahead would bring us joy and happiness.

The same time every year we look back at the year that was, how quickly the year has passed, all the good things, wonderful things, bad things and awful things we did throughout the year. However the past year was, we always look forward to a great year ahead. That is the special thing about this day.

As one of my college senior says - “This day symbolizes hope. Hope that there will be a refreshing change in our lives starting today. Hope that all the sorrow that had encircled us till now would vanish and joy will fill the lacunae that exist in their lives. It is with this hope that we coin various resolutions; the ones that cater to the actions we feel are wrong or unhealthy.”

Putting the past behind, I look forward to a great year for me, my family, my friends, for my country and the entire world in the new year and the new decade. Wishing you all a Happy New Year and a New Decade.

Christmas 2009 at Marina and Ampa Skywalk

Travelling to the Marina on Christmas day indeed was a bad decision. There was a huge crowd of people who like me wished to get a glimpse of the newly beautified Marina. Even with the supposedly modified Parking arrangement, it took about 15-20 minutes to take my car from the parking slot. But I did get to see the beach with some leisure as I reached the place a bit early before the rest of the crowd could come.

The marina now has a glossy touch with good marble flooring where we can sit leisurely and enjoy the scenic beauty of the magnificent beach. The entire stretch of about 3.5 km from the Port to the Light House has been beautified and has a wide path suitable for walking and jogging. I didn’t get to see the lightings in their full glory, but it is said to be exceptional.

The use of Plastic has been banned and attempt is being made to clean the beaches. But you just can’t help noticing the amount of plastic bags strewn all around. Another major part of the renovation funds went into the Parking arrangements. And I’d say the parking arrangement is  very poor. They have just made space for parking of ‘n’ number of cars with no proper management of cars entering and leaving the lot. Ideally they should employ a few personnel to monitor it.

Our next destination was Ampa Skywalk, the newly opened mall on Ponnamallee High Road, near Aminjikarai and Anna Arch. This location too wasn’t spared by the crowd. Construction of this mall has taken a very long time and it is still not fully complete. The cineplex by PVR Cinemas and quite a few stores like Landmark, Spencer’s Hypermarket etc are yet to open.

The food court on the third floor with a variety of shops is fully operational and thats where the crowd was focussed on, apart from McDonald’s and KFC on the so called, ‘Upper Ground Floor’. The food court has something call the ‘Fcube’ Debit Card, which every diner has to obtain in order to place his order at any of the stalls. The card comes with a security deposit of Rs.10 refundable on return of the card. Valid for 365 days from the previous usage day, it can be ‘recharged’ in multiples of 10 based on how much you need to spend at the food court. The sad part though is that this card is not applicable for McD and KFC which aren’t a part of the food court.

Apart from the food court, there is nothing much in the mall right now. Once a few stores like Landmark, Spencer’s etc open there’ll be purpose to visit the mall. For now its just the satisfaction of having a look at the newly constructed mall which is going to have the city’s largest cineplex.

The one major difference in the two major places that I visited on Christmas 2009, was the way they manage their parking. The Ampa Skywalk has a multi stoery car parking where you can park your car with ease, while the beach has a 3.5 km stretch with a large area alloted for parking, but still it is difficult to park a car. But since the mall being a private place, their parking charges are exorbitant compared to other locations. I was charged 30 rupees for just over 2 hrs. At the marina it was free parking. But I wouldn’t mind to pay some nominal amount as long as I don’t have to suffer in such utter chaos.

PS: This PVR Cineplex will be the largest just for a couple of years I guess. Sathyam Cinemas plans to open another cineplex at the new Express Avenue Mall which is gonna come soon near Spencer Plaza. For details on the Express Avenue mall, click here.

PS: Few pics of the beautified Marina Beach can be found here - http://goo.gl/3KmH

Tech Trends I’d like to see in 2010

There are quite a few things which I’d like to see happening in the year 2010, when it comes to gadgets, computers and the Internet. A few of these can also seem as if I’m expecting too much. But at the pace everything is happening, I’d say nothing is impossible.

• E-Commerce - Internet can thrive if its users are able to make money out of it. Facilities similar to Google’s Adsense and Adwords will become more prominent.
• mCommerce - Mobile Payment avenues like Airtel’s mChek Reliance’s mPay are already present and I guess in 2010 these will become more effective and useful.
• Online Retail - This is one feature which is yet to create a buzz in India. But I guess 2010 has a lot in store for online retail. Currently sites like flipkart.com are available in India for purchase of books.
• Videos and Internet TV - There’ll be a huge rise in videos created and circulated throughout the internet. Movies, TV Programmes and Soundtracks made specially for Internet audiences will be in vogue.
• Social Network and APIs - 2009 saw a huge rise in social network users and applications centered around these networks. Apps made for mobile devices will see a steep rise with smartphones combined with their App Stores.
• Real-Time Communication and Collaboration -Google Wave and Twitter are already reducing the time barrier which used to exist. With more apps and features available in the future, real-time communication and collaboration would become more easier and relevant.
• Smartbooks - A device falling between smartphones and netbooks. To be sold through mobile operators, these will be of huge use to all users. Emergence of Smartbooks might even kill the entire netbooks category.
• Mobile Operator Wars - Once Mobile Number Portability is available in India it’ll create huge price wars between mobile operators thereby benefiting users.
• Storage - Wider usage of Flash Drives and other solid state drives would be seen. Availability of these storage devices at an affordable level would probably mean the death of existing rotating drives like CDs and DVDs.

Update : One more feature I’ve always wanted. I hope this becomes feasible in 2010.

• Status Updates to the Caller on mobile phones - Whenever someone calls me, they either hear the boring ring or some song as a caller tune. Instead I’d like some feature through which I can tell my status to my callers.

Update - After 3 months.

I’ve been neglecting my supposedly ‘new’ blog for such a long time that Google still ranks my old blogspot blog ahead of the new one. The reason for the neglect might have been because of my busy schedule throughout the semester and may also be because I’ve been posting regularly at my twitter profile - @alagappanr and my facebook profile = fb/alagappanr.

My blog was crying for some fresh content. So I guess its time I start posting content on this new blog and get its ‘page rank’ up.

So by the time I’m typing this post 7 semesters of my college life are over and I’m now just a few months away from being a full engineer. For all those curious guys who want to know about NITT Placements - I’m not yet placed and I don’t intend to talk about it here.

In the past few months hundreds of things happened and that includes me writing my CAT Exam, The Great Chennai Run, a trip to Ooty+Coonoor, supposedly an agitation against the college mess, watching all seasons of 24 and TBBT, reading a lot of books among other stuff. I just feel this semester could have been a lot better and I hope the next one is.

Festember 09

Yet another festember has gone by. This one being the last one of my college life. Didn’t want to miss blogging about this. Thats why I’m back from a long hiatus.

Thanks to the heavy downpour in Trichy on Day 0, I couldn’t attend the inaugural function (in which the college presi wished everyone good morning at 6 in the evening) and I also missed a few performances by the Dance Troupe of  NITT. But I did make it to the concert by Kadri Gopalnath. He started off with a few classical ones and eventually went on to what the audience really wanted - the ‘Anjali anjali’ song. Overall it was a memorable performance. It was followed by half-an-hour long fireworks display. The sky was completely lit and the I’m sure the awesome show would have caused a few accidents in the adjacent highway due to mesmerized drivers.

A few of the other events I attended were ChoreoNite and Tarangini the major events at barn. As usual there was an uncontrollable crowd shouting every time a team performs for some ARR song. There were quite a few catchy performances from various colleges. Vijay TV’s Super Singer winner Ajesh too had come over for competing in Tarangani with his college light music team. The crowd loved his performance.

Yet again, the Dance Troupe and Music Troupe of NITT were at their best. It is a great thing for participating institutions that they don’t have to compete with the hosts in the dance and light music events. Else the best they can get is the second place.

Another popular event at Festember every year is the pattimandram type of event conducted by the Tami Mandram of NITT. This year it just got bigger, with excellent group of participants and and awesome judge, Barathi Baskaran of Sun Tv Pattimandram fame.

This Festember wouldn’t have been fun without Sushish Kamath’s workshop. He was called in for a workshop on Independent Film making and he was at his best. He gave us tips on how NOT to make a movie. He included his own experiences making TFLW and another movie He Says, She Says. He definitely kept his audience attentive even though the workshop’s timing made many of them stay hungry.  It was indeed an enthusiatic turn-out. After all he is the best known film critic of south India.

The best of the events were saved for the final day. The ProNite show had an energetic Benny Dayal and a band called Bandish currently making waves in the music scene. Benny Dayal’s concert was simple superb, but had to be cut short as the girls were asked to leave early. Then a just-for-boys show by Bandish began enthusiatically at 11 in the night. The best thing was the absence of staff and the girls. With them in Barn, Festember wouldn’t have ended the way it did this year. Would never forget their performance I guess. They rocked the stage and the barn truly came alive with the whole crowd cheering. It ensured that Festember 09 ended on a high. Inspite of there being a few organisational glitches, and rain playing spoilsport, I would say that Festember 09 rocked. (and even kra feels the same).

Ubuntu #Fail

I’ve been using Ubuntu for about a year now and this has never happened before. This is Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope. #Fail

Update: Already there have been quite a few accusations that this image is a fake one. And I want to make it crystal clear that this image is not a fake and is just a screenshot of what I experienced a few minutes back in Ubuntu.