Obsessed with GOOGLE

Its been a long time since i have been waiting to write a blog on Google. Especially after reading 2 Books more or less based on it : The Google Story , The Search. I will try to post a separate entry on the Reviews of these books but this post only broaches about Google - The company.
The title justifies what i feel & i can say with a lot of conviction most people in this world feel the same.

GOOGLE

There is not a single day when i dont visit a google site. Be it google or gmail or orkut or blogger or trends or news etc. By visiting i mean actually use it in a meaningful way. This mountain view company has brought a sea of change in my life (might be the same with others). It has forced me to make a separate bookmark folder for all its services in my firefox borwser. Week after week (sometimes within a day) it comes out with new softwares which have the ability to change people's lives.
Foe instance, take my example. I have almost completely switched over to using Gmail than Yahoo Mail. Not just because of the storage but because of many other features which are not in other email services. At first, i was reluctant to use Gmail, but gradually i was enamored with it. Although Yahoo has introduced its new UI (which is quite cool by the way), but still it lacks some features such as the grouping of similar messages. And its been decades since i stopped using Hotmail for the simple reason of it being not HOT anymore. Then comes Orkut which is a social networking service from Google. I was able to find some 2-3 of my friends with its help. Friends whom i knew when i was in Class 2, but never seen after that. Wondrous isnt it ?
Then there is Google News, which has become a single news repository for a majority of people in this world (i can bet that). Google Maps (with local search) is one extremely useful service but sadly its currenlty for US & UK people only. I am insanely waiting for it to come to india.
These services are the most basic ones. Then there are many more viz. Google Calendar, Google Earth, Google Video, Google Desktop Search, Picasa, Blogger (through which i am writing this blog) which i think require a separate post.
And if i discuss the life changing effects of http://www.google.com, then i can write a whole novel on it.
Although both Yahoo & Microsoft & other start-ups are trying to catch up with Google & they are doing it quite well, it still remains to be seen if these companies are successful in their attempts to attract a large chunk of online traffic.
All products from google can be found on this link : http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/

This year: Formula 1 = Fantastic one

After so many stodgy Formula 1 championships, this year's F1 promises to be a cliffhanger. Till now, Fernando Alonso seems to be the palpable champion. This guy has got all the requisites for a champion. He does not make any unforced errors, has a superb car, has a lot of patience, diligence & attitude. In my opinion, there is only one thing that differentiates him from Michael Schumacher, which is experience. And this expereince really helps you to learn to accept defeats, a characteristic which was quite evident, when last time in the German Grand Prix, Alonso was second & his facial expression told everything (Reference : http://in.rediff.com/sports/2006/may/12raja.htm ).
Inspite of all the winning qualities, i somehow feel that Schumacher is going to win this year's Championship. I dont know what makes me think that Schumacher will win, but the remaining races are surely a must-watch.
For Schumacher to win, Alonso has to perform badly in at least one of the races, although the chances of that happening are minimal. One more possibility would be Schumacher winning 90% of the remaining races. With 12 more races to go, anything can be possible. The next 4-5 races are going to be vital as they might essentially seal the fate of the championship.

Ignorance is a bliss --- is it ?

If you are thinking that this post involves some philosophy regarding the title, then you are at the wrong place. The title "Ignorance is a bliss" may have been the target of several discussion groups, but here it is stated in context to something. That thing goes here:
"It is common practice to see boys roaming around with girl friends. But what happens when one of the friends of the boy is in close proximity to the couple. What does the boy do ? Ignore you or introduce you to his girl friend."
Most of the times i have noticed that the boy chooses the first option. Quite uncanny huh !
There are umpteen number of times i have come across situations where i happened to see one of my friends ( or take seniors) along with their girl friends and they simply ignore even after making eye contact. Its very similar to a party situation where you go & say hello to someone & that someone is not at all looking at you & just walks away & you become the joker.
Is it that the boy is so timid that he is actually worried of his girl friend being purloined by his very own friend ( Believe me that does happen sometimes). Or something else...
If any of such guys is reading this post he may have the best answer to this. For some people "Ignorance is a Bliss".

Its alright when the boy has not noticed you and you are constantly looking at him waiting for him to say "Hi" first. In that case the boy's friend is so cunning that he was actually waiting for such a situation to take place & then he can say that his friend was ignoring him. In such cases the boy, his being zero fault, is the victim again.

This Post is not intended to harm anyone. Just an observation...

Life is Changing....

My first Post on BlogSpot.

Yesterday night while i was about to sleep, a thought occured to my mind about how much change i have undergone since i left college. It seemed unacceptable yet plausible. More responsibility than the earlier times is a conspicuous answer. But there is more to it if you look deep inside.
Here is the explanation from different angles.
Talking about Professional lives, there is a considerable change in the power of grasping and the ability to understand. For eg. professional life gives you a thorough understanding of how things actually work. You can relate to pragmatic instances that you have come across and yet not realize them at that time. There is a lot of difference between what is taught in schools & colleges and what a guy learns in the industry. This difference more or less is attributed to the Indian education system ( Will write a Blog on this topic later).
Then there is Personal life. When you start earning, things suddenly change. You get more responsible. You sort out priorities with time, manage so many things at one time that you dont even have the time to think about subtle things that make life beautiful. For eg. From this point, believe it or not, everything you do has some impact in your life later. The impact may be rewarding or unrewarding. The unfortunate thing is that not many people can visualize the effects of such doings. Even if someone intervenes, you can say that you are earning now & will do whatever you want to.
I can go on writing about this citing practical instances about how people have changed after college (many of them being my house mates) but lets not focus on them right now. Thats an altogether different topic which needs a separate post.

One more change i noticed is i have written a blog about all this which was not the case earlier.
I might write more on this as i relaize more & more..