Sroys

TELL THEM TO STOP! ICANN has introduced a new top level domain - .TEL - where companies can have a single page website containing their telephone contact numbers - no images, no logo - nothing.

Well this is outright silly - well maybe actually not - it’ll make ICANN a hell lot of money as all major companies would HAVE TO BUY their domain and put up their page of telephone numbers. It’s really odd that this sort of top level domains are being introduced - how about something more useful like .tech or .software or .app or .consultant or .browse - anything but this.

You know what’s coming next - .office - where you can one page with your office address. Then it’ll be .born to display your birthday to the world. How exactly do they decide what to release next in terms of top level domains?

As Michael Arrington of Tech Crunch puts it “ICANN is notorious for approving just about any new project as long as they get their fees (ICANN was in favor of creating a special porn domain name until the U.S. Senate suggested it might be a bad idea)”

TechCrunch has linked itself with FaceBook - this is a landmark for FaceBook as now many websites will connect to it and the amount of information they will have will probably surpass Google in a few years. This information is of course more relevant and a much better measure to rank websites with as this information is more “Human” and not something like “page back links” which Google uses as a primary method to rank websites.

This may soon make Facebook a very valuable information source.

Image courtesy: Tech Crunch

Britney spears has done it again - according to Yahoo Britney spears was the most searched term on their search engine. This was followed by WWE and barrack obama in 2nd and 3rd place. This shows that entertainment and news are the two big industries on the Internet.

No wonder the success of services like YouTube which provides videos and is possibly the most well known source of such entertainment online.

This also shows for developer this industry would be the most lucrative - with efforts being made to make the Internet reach your living room where until now the TV has ruled - this will soon be history with many companies coming in to reach you where you spends the most hours looking for entertainment. Although lucrative this industry is one of the most difficult to cater to - in terms of original content development - that is where DIGG has done such a great job in building a platform where people can look for the most important news stories - however there system too has flaws and many people are gaming the system to push their own news stories to the top.

So should we small start ups go ahead and try to build something for the entertainment business. I think that would not be a good idea unless you have a lot of funding - innovation in terms of new web businesses are something which can only be handled f you have a lot of funds.

Entertainment news is in that way only accessible to large companies for development. For small developers the focus should probably be on technology which makes the large developers more accessible - which is probably true in most industries - for example in social networking we see many facebook application developers thrive. Perhaps a platform will come soon where we will be able to cater to the entertainment audience by building small applications which would run on the ITV sitting in your living room.

It’s very possible if they are bright enough to see the possiblity with FaceBook Connect. This is a very bold new step and could very well be their best decision so far. The blog says:

Today we are announcing Facebook Connect. Facebook Connect is the next iteration of Facebook Platform that allows users to “connect” their Facebook identity, friends and privacy to any site. This will now enable third party websites to implement and offer even more features of Facebook Platform off of Facebook – similar to features available to third party applications today on Facebook.

Imagine getting updates from friends about which movie review the commented on - which product they bought - which website they think are their favorites. Imagine facebook connecting with services like disqus - imagine knowing what they are saying on blogs. Now isn’t this priceless information - facebook will know which websites are the authority in each and every single industry - which blogs have the most comments on a particullar subject. Surely this information is way better ranking factors.

But all this will happen when Facebook creates and makes it easy for people to integrate their website into a social network. If anyone with a facebook login is allowed to login into my forum and allowed to access information and place comments - and if facebook indexes these pages and know exactly who commented on the page and who their friends are and who their friends friends are - and where they are located. The amount of information and what can be done with it is limitless.


One of the key ways Google climbed to the top was by rewarding publishers through their adsense program - I believe many will agree that without Google and adsense the Internet would’ve been a different place. The amount of information these publishers and their users threw at Google - through toolbars and analytics is just immense - this intelligence has been used by Google very well - and if FaceBook can do the same - or better - since their information can be even more valuable and more “Human” - imagine what they can do.

But will FaceBook have the foresight to see who they need on their side to make this possible - that is the big question. If they can make it easy for publishers [even small fry publishers like me] using the popular open source or paid software packages like wordpress, vbulletin, phpbb to connect with FaceBook and exchange information and members - FaceBook - with proper programming - can become an immense information source.

Imagine me going to FaceBook Search and searching for “human resource management” and learning that john who is friend of joe - who is my friend - uses and has commented on an article on one of the websites - perhaps there can be a way where you can see the degree of separation from the users who have used sites dealing in “human resource management” - imagine having a way to connect with these people who seem to have gone through the same issues I am facing. Or maybe I am thinking about buying a digital camera - and my FaceBook Search shows me which websites my friends and my friend’s friends visited - who said what - maybe even which camera they bought finally.

I just hope that FaceBook will take it up and do this - it’s their chance to become the next Google.

Here’s my take on what I feel are the most useful Iphones apps available in the App Store. I haven’t jail-broken my Iphone - if you are good enough you will make it to the app store.

When I say my favorites apps - I mean applications which in someway help us be more productive and utilities which use the Iphone features very well. I use most of these applications almost everyday. So here goes:

ByLine: This is a beautiful RSS reader which syncs up with your Google Reader account [if you have gmail you can access it] - initially I was wondering if I wanted it that way - but later realized it’s the easiest way to organize your favorite RSS feeds. Add them into the Google Reader account and it syncs up to your Iphone. The best part about this app is it’s speed and pre-fetching capability - meaning when you read the feeds - it’s as smooth as silk. Beautiful app. My number 1 most used app.

Locly: A very useful application if you want to quickly find out what’s near you. I found this application to be the most accurate - it’s probably got to do with the programming as I think most such apps are using the Google local data - so basically the same information - but this application handles it the best and I found it to be the most accurate. It features many things like - flickr images, local twitters, local events, restaurants, pubs, cafes, shops, taxi firms, hotels, banks & ATM, gas stations but one of the cool features is the wikipedia articles on nearby important locations - I found them to be pretty accurate from my location. Some of the other apps like Around Me does the same thing but I found Locly to be more accurate.

AirSharing: I use this app to use my Iphone as a wireless hard drive. It works very well and it’s very easy to use. Works with windows or mac. Supports folders and let’s you view documents and images.

Camera Bag: I recently started using this and it’s a very good camera effects app if you like to have effects like Helga, black & white - in all it has about 10 effects and it does the job well.

Lists: This app does not have many features but I like it that way - it’s simple to use and does not crowd the screen. Nice clear list display. You can create as many lists you want and you can add and remove items from the list and you can create sub-lists inside lists. I considered buying things but somehow I do not need a second organizer in the Iphone - the native calendar organizer is good enough for me and it runs in the background so I can set alerts. I would have to run things to get alerts which kind of beats the purpose of having so many features. A simple list of things to do with a tick mark in front does it better for me. I am sure there are many such applications but I have used this till now and have had no trouble plus I like the icon.

Some time back I was considering buying a netbook to replace my huge Dell laptop. I researched and found that there were two companies which dominated the market:

Asus Eee PC - a detailed review can be found here.

MSI Wind - a detailed review can be found here.

While both seemed decently good - I was turned off by the fact that the key board, the screen, the resolution seemed to be a problem for many people who had bought them. And frankly the market in between the laptop and a mobile is not for everyone.

Net books are fine if it is your first laptop and you don’t want to spend too much - it has potential to be a nice note taking device for school goers and college students and I feel that is the market for these devices. But if you are a developer or someone who has to work many hours on your computer - a Net Book just won’t fit your requirements. They don’t have enough power and it’ll be stressful to work on such a small screen/keyboard.

One of the main features which will help probably help the Net Book market will be it’s ability to easily sync up to a desktop over wireless. Apple is possible considering getting into this market - although these are only rumors - some say that “Apple doesn’t do cheap” - but if they do and if they create a way to easily sync with your desktop - like you can with the Iphone - then it may sell like hot cakes.

The Net Book needs to be priced very low so it is affordable by school and college students.
But for us professionals - we will wait for the next Iphone - which may just wipe out the entire Net Book market if it’s decently powerful and is easy to use. Imagine a mobile phone which can open up into a small netbook. That would be awesome! We wait now.

The recent market plunge and the economic crisis is almost like “evolution” and the emergence of a higher breed. Every once in a while an Ice Age comes along and only the lean and the mean will survive this - the Government may step in like the enviromentalist and try to bail out the dinosaurs - But I have respect only for companies who can survive on their own with quick and good decisions.

With reports of many web based companies loosing traffic and revenue like Ebay and with major companies like Yahoo on the verge of bankruptcy it’s clear that there are tough times ahead. So what do I think companies should do to survive this:

1) Cut back on infrastructure cost - increase cash reserve.
2) Lay-off non-productive or problematic staff immediately - don’t waste time.
3) If you have major operations - divide them along with fixed budgets and goals - be strict.
4) Focus vehemently on productivity and new ideas.
5) Invest in your own company - don’t go buying.
6) Out source work which can be outsourced.
7) Keep your company Lean and Mean.

Techcrunch has almost become a blog of lay-offs and head counts - sometimes I am thoroghly bored reading about who’s falling apart in this crisis. I would be much happier if they and others could focus on what steps companies are taking to survive this crisis.

Regarding Yahoo - I think they should divide their company and do it now. When companies want to become stronger they merge with other market leaders to create one stronger company. In their case they are falling apart with low profits and high costs. Lay-off employees, divide your business and let the best survive.

I recently bought an Iphone and this phone is something you need to experience to be able to appreciate fully. I remember the time when I was thinking about whether to buy a blackberry or an Iphone a few months back - and back then I was a fool - I bought a blackberry and was happy in my isolated world text and email. Viewing Email and surfing the net on the opera browser seemed more than anything I could ever want.
The way the Iphone looks also kind of confused me about it’s usability. The problem was that I never quite understood the user interface until I saw a few videos on YouTube of the iphone being used.

It blew my mind - the simplicity of the design is beautiful. Initially you may think that there are many things which can make it a difficult phone to use - but that’s just our initial nervousness with new technology. I don’t think I can ever go back to my old blackberry.

Part of my reason I decided to go ahead and buy the Iphone was the Apple brand name - Apple has maintained their brand beautifully - it’s something which is almost synonymous with “very good quality” well if there is a word which means that. This I think helped the most in building the hype around the Iphone Initially.


The coolest and the most useful feature on the Iphone is the App Store - which allows you to download and install applications from the store. There are both paid and free apps. What this means is that here’s a phone which is completely customizable - you can have it the way you want it but you can only have it from Apple. Yeah - you cannot install third party applications unless you jail break your iphone - I haven’t done that as I don’t really trust them - if you haven’t made it into the app store then there is something wrong with it.

Now Google is coming up with the Gphone which will run on Andriod - although there is going to be an app store for this phone also it is highly unlikely that Google will be able to maintain the quality of the apps in that app store [judging by what they have done with the adsense publisher program]. If they can - it’ll be their only saving grace - cause they are up against a very organized and very powerful enemy. The Iphone is formidable - it looks great - it feels great in your hand - the apps are great - and it carries a brand name which stands for good quality.

Will I shift to the Google Andriod when it comes out?
I am not sure - but a friend of mine will possibly get it when it’s available in India - so hopefully I’ll get a first hand experience but untill then I have to declare the Iphone is by far the coolest thing I have ever owned in my life.

While many of us are very familiar with the latest gadgets and software - there are vast regions in the world which do not have access to these techs. To give you an idea of the scope of development of this industry let’s compare the population of the world to the population of internet users.

The population of the world according to Wikipedia is 6.72 Billion.
The population of Internet users according to Internet World Stats is around 1.42 Bilion.

That means about 21% of the world is using the Internet - the rest 79% are still oblivious to this phenomenon. But that will soon change as technology becomes cheaper. A day will come when technology will be in the hands of even the uneducated masses. We have already seen this happen with mobile phones - people with a monthly salary of $70 are able to afford a mobile phone now and this has sparked a revolution in how informed people are - imagine what the Internet will do to this population when they have access to almost any information they can ever need.

One of the highlights of such a time will be localization of websites - it will become extremely important for us web masters to be able to provide our content in local languages. Fortunately there are already programs like the Google Language Tool available using which you can create a decent localized version of you pages.

The time is soon coming when this 79% population will be online - and the online boom is far from over - the Internet will eventually grow to be the backbone of our society.