Almost all the web-serives or apps run in a BETA stage for sometime before their actual launch. But there is an even pre stage for all projects; the LABS. Every project/service live in the labs all thorugh their developement session. It’s only after rigorous testing and bug-fixing, they come out of the labs. So, it is recommended to visit the labs once in a while, so that you get to know a glimpse of potential-next-big-things.

Almost all software firms have got their own private labs; but now, we’ll take a look at three top labs:

1. Google Labs
2. Mozilla Labs
3. Live Labs

There are many promising projects in their development stages currently at the above labs. Let’s take a look at some of them.

• Google Sets
  Automatically creates sets of items from a few examples.
  I gave the inputs : Sony, Nikon, Canon and Olympus (digital camera brands) and clicked “Create a Short List” and it intelligently gave

  panasonic

  kodak

  pentax

  fuji

  samsung

  casio

  marque

  fujifilm

  sigma

  hp

Sounds cool, huh ? Go, try it out and say your opinion about it.

• Google Mars
  In collaboration with NASA researchers at Arizona State University, they’ve created some of the most detailed scientific maps of Mars ever made. You can view the maps/satellite imageries of Mars, which were earlier exclusive to NASA.

• Personas for Firefox (Mozilla)
  Personas for Firefox is a extension that adds lightweight theming to your browser. It’s an experiment in personalizing firefox without the need to download heavy themes.

• Microsoft PhotoSytnh
  You can use Photosynth to transform regular digital photos into a three-dimensional, 360-degree experience. Anybody who sees your synth is put right in your shoes, sharing in your experience, with detail, clarity and scope impossible to achieve in conventional photos or videos. The software is clever enough to guess the vantage point from where each photo was taken, then it places them in the right sequence.

  The Hindu on PhotoSynth:
  Imagine, you have just come back from a family holiday and your digital camera is full with dozens of photos you have taken, many in a single site — may be the Taj Mahal or the Charminar or Sentosa in Singapore. PhotoSynth allows you to stitch these ‘flat’ photos together to create a 360-degree, 3-D panorama of the spot.

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Paid Reviews are considered to be the easiest way out there to grab some green money after you’ve gained some reputation/authority in the blogosphere. And many bloggers, who crave for traffic and in turn money, decides on getting their blogs reviewed by those ‘big-guys’. It’s not a good or bad discussion; But, since this invloves real bucks, you need to be sure that you’re money isn’t being wasted.

1. First of all, do an extensive research on where to get your blog reviewed, as there thousands people out there, offering you paid reviews.
2. Get to know about the stats of the site/blog you’re planning to get your blog reviewed-by. You can use free tools like, Alexa, Compete, Google Trends for websites etc to do that.
3. Select the blog/site that has got the most number of subscribers (RSS/email). Many display their subscriber counts on the blog itself. If not, you could ask the author to reveal the count.
4. Try to get reviewed by a blog/site that is in the same niche as your blog.
5. In my opinion, DO NOT opt for a MMO (Make-Money-Online) blog. Getting reviewed by them might give you a sudden boost in the traffic, but believe me, it’s not gonna’ last for sure. The readers of those blogs are fast-paced and horribly impatient, and they won’t even bother to read even one of your posts.
6. DO NOT pay for a review at a blog, where you haven’t been before. Before planning to get reviewed, be at that blog for quite some time, participate actively, and get to know the community.
   
7. Ask the reviewer to include atleast 2 DoFollow links and a link to your Feed
   
   
8. Most importantly, before taking the final decision, have a word with someone who’ve already been reviewed by the particular blog you’ve decided upon.
   Ask him about the views he got, the increase in number of subscribers etc.
   This is the best and the most effective step to ensure that you get the value for what you shell out.

Do you have any more notes on things to note before deciding for a paid review ? Have you ever got your blog reviewed and what was the result?

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With the term, TeamBlogs, I meant blogs, with multiple authors, who are individual succesfull bloggers by themselves. You might be wondering am I not aware of LifeHacker, TechCrunch, EnGadget and such corporate blog giants. Yes, I’m aware and infact, there are many more TeamBlogs, but the number is far less from what-could-be-expected.

There are many individual bloggers just like me, who works passionately to produce quality content. Some, even makes a living out of their blogs. (Congrats to them ) Now, if these passionate-bloggers join together and blog together, won’t it be much much great ?

Have a glance at the Growth Pattern of a typical blogger:

• Installs (most probably) WordPress and starts posting
• With great vigour, joins places like MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, Technorati etc.
• Brimming with enthusiasm, he/she comments at so may blogs of interest and gathers some real good friends.
• Then, it’s the turn for social-media.  Rushes to StumbleUpon, Digg etc. and is thirsty for a quick Digg Success (which is so-much unlikely).
• Gets acquainted with SEO, sometimes guest posts and attain a decent, stable traffic to his/her blog and then maintains it.

Every typical blogger undergo the above mentioned growth pattern. If he/she makes it to stand 6 months or more without fail, they are successful. Now, think about the potential that is possessed by a group of 5+ or 10+ successful bloggers working on a single blog !! This is exactly what made the aforementioned corporate blogs stand out as giants !!

There are some barriers when it comes to TeamBlogs, Revenue-Sharing being the most difficult. Even if the team is well set and closely knit, there is high risk, things can go weird. (After all, isn’t it real money!!)

So, I thought about a nifty way of sharing the revenue earned using AdSense. Use a plugin like AdMan or MightyAdsense. These plugins just needs you to enter the AdSense code and it’ll show ADs on the selected locations. Once, the blog have attained a steady traffic, keep rotating the AdSense codes of each author.

• i.e. for a fixed number of days, run the AD code of Author A, then for another time period, use the code of Author B, and so on..
• This way, there won’t be a problem sharing the revenue and each one gets their deserved amount right into their account.
• Another way could be using the AD code of a particular author for all his posts.

Was I making a fool of myself, writing out these? Are these tips already the industry standard? (If yes, yippee, I’ve came up with an idea myself, that is the industry standard !!)

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India have been terrorised by someone who is exceptionally intelligent and technologistic. Within 48 hours, 25 blasts have rocked the country and states like Kerala, have received “warning phone calls” that threatens about bomb blasts. In this context, I’m initiating a discussion on “what actually could be done to track down these”

The authorities are said to have received a 16page e-mail warning, about the bomb blasts that took place in the country (India).

• As you’ve probably guessed by now, yeah, it’s *easy* to track down the person who’ve sent out the mail. It’s just a matter of EXAMINE THE HEADER OF THE EMAIL (The email header is the information that travels with every email, containing details about the sender, route and receiver.) TRACE DOWN THE IP (It is easy to geo-locate an IP address). LOOK UP THE CONNECTION RECORDS and BE AT THE DOORSTEP OF THE SENDER.
• This seems relatively easy and thus it will work out in most cases, as it did in the present case

Now The Second (interesting) Chapter

A Television reporter received two anonymous calls, informing/warning about blasts in other states, including Kerala. With caller-ID, the caller’s number was easily recorded. But, still now, the caller hadn’t been traced. This might’ve probably left you wondering, why the heck, can’t they trace down the person !

Well, to begin with, it’s not as easy as it might sound. Upon checking, it have been concluded that the number that showed up in the caller ID is of some web serive that offers PC-to-PHONE CALLS (Yahoo Voice! and Skype & the like)

A possible investigation could proceed as following:

• Get the numbers of all such web phoning services and check with the number that has showed up in the caller ID.
• Else, initiate a search for calls that’ve been made to the TV Channel reporter’s mobile number. This being a (inter)National priority issue, implementing these shouldn’t be any pain.
• Being the service web-based, we could get the SERVER LOG and have the IP of the person who made the call and TRACE HIS GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION.

Now, since imagination has no limits, I’ve taken the liberty to propose the following situation !!:

• The group of people behind this is exceptionally intelligent. As such, they could be having their own WEB-to-PHONE calling systems.
• And to add to the loop, they might’ve also forged/spoofed their call-centre number.
• They’re possessing a seriously enhanced technology, that makes them so protected that they show the courage to phone using the same number. Doesn’t that sound as: “Try your best. You’re not gonna’ find us !!”

That’s it. One objective-TRACE HIM/HER DOWN. Different perspectives and approaches. (All views are personal, unless, otherwise specified). If you’ve read upto this, full, I’m sure there’s much in your mind, that needs to be said out. Of course, this is a discussion, speak up

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We had much OS talks, which at many times, trasnformed into a war of mere fanboys. And the more-than-a-decade-old question of “The Best OS” couldn’t be still answered. Here I share my (short) experience of Linux and have provided a set of killer linux resources, including tools to decide upon ‘which distro suites you the best’ !!

This week saw me trying out a second Linux Distro: OpenSUSE 11.0 . Till I installed Ubuntu last month, Linux installation was considered INSANE. With the courage I acquired from a successful traditional install of Ubuntu, I set out to install OpenSUSE myself, and I did. But, unfortunately, there is some conflict with the bootloader of Ubuntu, which was not removed eventhough, I deleted that partition. The Result: I cannot boot into my machine without a LiveCD !! Hopefully, I could solve the problem or else, I would shift to Fedora as it is best for me (I used the intelligent Distro Choosers to get the right Distro for me. See them below)

This was one of the moments where, I really admired the simplicity and usability of the most commom platform: Windows. But, There is almost nothing that Windows/Mac could do and Linux could not. The difference is only in the way it’s done, which is a slight pain for those who are Die-Hard Windows !! The Verdict Is: Linux is NOT Geeky. Give it a sure try.The Linux community is warm and lively.
Here are some Killer Linux Resources listed:

2 Insanely Wonderful Linux Distro Choosers

• LDC - Linux Distribution Chooser
• Polish Linux’s Distro Chooser

Blogs

• Polish Linux

• Phoro Linux
• Linux @ HowToGeek
• Linux Haxor
• Linux Gamers

Forums:

• LinuxForums.org
• LinuxQuestions.org
• UbuntuForums

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Here are some Cool, Fresh Thoughts and Ideas about Plurk:

1. The Timeline Wall: A premium AD spot !!

Plurk features smooth-horizontal-scrolling with the “plurkings” by users, displayed in a timeline as could be seen in the image above. The wall of that timeline (coloured blue), is a great spot for ADs isn’t it. (:P) ?
But, I’m sure that we won’t see ADs there, anytime. They would rather close the site than doing that !!

2. Setup Plurk right there on your Desktop
(Full credits for this idea goes to my friend Shankar Ganesh, the author of KillerTechTips. He is the one who discovered this ultra-cool way of Plurking.)

Here’s a screenshot of what Shankar Ganesh did with his Plurk account.

It’s his desktop. He now plurks right from his desktop and watches the timeline progress as his wallapaper. Cool, huh ?!!
I appreciate him on discovering a cool and snazzy way around.

Here’s how you could do this (Windows):
Goto Control Panel > Display > Desktop(tab) > Customize Desktop > Web(tab) > New
Create a new item for “www.plurk.com” > OK
Now you will have Plurk, right there on your desktop.

If you are already Plurking, meet me there.; Meet Shankar Ganesh at Plurk.
If you haven’t yet joined Plurk, Join Now.
(You will find many useful stuff at KillerTechTips, have a visit)

Have you got any cool ideas about Plurk ? Share ‘em !!

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But, you should be aware of their malicious potential. Any service could be misused. The case is no different for shortened URLs. Malicious links could be contained in such shortened URLs, whose target link is unknown to the user. When tried to shorten an already shortened URL, the service said: “This usually means you tried to link to is.gd itself or another URL shortening site. Links to these sites are disabled to stop spammers hiding abusive links behind a chain of shortened URLs.”

Look at some of the possible threats:

The link associated with the LOGOUT button in Orkut is http://www.orkut.com/GLogin.aspx?cmd=logout. Now that link could be converted to something like http://ab.cd/ef Clearly, clicking on that link will log you out of the site. This is only a simple example. Think of situations where, these could be used to (yes) DELETE your account, gain ownership of communities, copy/modify your personal information, perform restricted operations etc.

Now you know how dangerous these could get. (It is when I wrote this post, I understood why Orkut and several other social networks delete those shortened URLs posted by its users!!)

But, these are extremely useful services (especially at twitter, where there is 140-character-limit) and shouldn’t be ignored because of such threats. I just wanted to say, be careful while following a shortened URL; you never know where it takes you or what it does!!

Update: I came across a GreaseMonkey Script that Restores a TinyURL and shows the original url in a tooltip on mouseover.
Update: Here’s a script that Automatically changes all tinyurl links to preview.tinyurl, so that you know where they are trying to send you.

If you want more URL shorteners than I listed, you may head here to read a long list of URL Shorteners: http://lin.cr/nu
(Don’t worry. This link is SAFE )
Lin.cr is created by Aalaap Ghag

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• It’s your personal life. Don’t make it too public.

• Understand that the potential viewers of the photos are not only those who invite, but includes anyone searching the Internet.
• So, whenever you share personal or sensitive photos, make sure you mark them as PRIVATE or PROTECTED. That is, just make sure that, the photos could be viewed only by those who invite.
• NEVER upload your images where you have no control over the display/accessibility/management of your uploaded photos.
• Use only quality services to upload like Flickr, PhotoBucket, PicasaWeb etc.
  

Keep these things in mind and protect your privacy online.
Have you been following these guidelines? Or have you had any experience where, leaving your images public caused you some sort of trouble? What’s your opinion about the billions of images being uploaded to the internet?

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Introduction

Ever since I got my broadband connection, the greater portion of my life was online. I learned many new things, which i might never come across, if i was not a netizen. Here, I share with you - my dear readers - How to be a COOL netizen.

The Bare Basics

Broadband connectivity, a powerful customizable secure browser (Firefox being my favorite), and a desire to explore the never ending web!!

Now that you are ready for the ride, we’ll look for stuff that will make the journey more dashing.

1. E-Mail & IM (needs description??!!)

You’ll need that everywhere. So have one for yourself. It is advised to have a private as well as another publid ID. You may choose any of the webmail giants (GMail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL) to get you one. Almost all of them provides unlimited storage & similar features, so, it’s completely upto you to decide.

SignUp for atleast one Instant Messaging service. (All the above mail providers provide IM service)

2. Socialize and Interact

2.1 Social Networking Sites

Since you want to be a netizen, you need to have contacts in the web just as you have in the physical world. Think no further and signup for a social networking service. There are many and while choosing one consider the following:

· Register for a service which is popular in your region/country (India=Orkut!!)

· Join only those services, which clearly ensures your safety online

(Get the full list here)

You may join Twitter, (a service to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: “What are you doing?”). Know More about twitter here. Once you’re familiar with these and have some contacts online, you may join services like FriendFeed.

2.2 Forums

Forums are web hangouts were, netizens interact each other based on interests. There are millions of forums out there, just for any category (Even, there is no Wikipedia entry listing forums!). So, the best way to decide on one is to ask those who use them.

3. Blogs

The best way to stay updated is to regularly read blogs. There are hundreds of thousands out there. There are both Corporate Blogs & Individual Bloggers (like me, Shankar, Nirmal, Sumesh). Doing a search for your interests on GoogleBlogSearch, Technorati etc. will take you to blogs which deal about the content you need. Once you’ve found one that suits your interest, it’s easy to find more of that type. It’s better to be a reader at many blogs, so that you get many flavours. (For info on staying updated with many blogs, see the RSS section below)

4. Get The Content Delivered To You (RSS)

RSS - Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0) - is a “family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts.”

Let’s put it simple. Every blog and many sites have a feature called “feeds”. You subscribe to the feed using any RSS Reader and any new articles/posts made in the blog/site will be delivered to the RSS Reader by the website/blog. So, if you subscribe to (say 5) blogs, all the new content from those 5 blogs will be there in the RSS Reader for you to read. Thus, you need not visit individual blogs/sites. This is a simple, extremely useful service, but not everyone uses it. I wonder why!! (You can subscribe to my blog here).

4.1 RSS Readers

There are both Online & Desktop clients available (Get the full list here). I personally use Google Reader and you can have a quick, neat tutorial here.

5. Social Bookmarking

This was a Web 2.0 phenomenon and was an immediate success. There started many Social Bookmarking services, which allowed you to share interesting websites and articles you come across on the web. These portray the “hot topics” of the moment, so that we get to know what the world is talking about. The giants in this business are Digg, StumbleUpon, del.icio.us, Reddit etc. You can have a long list here. (Take a practical lesson by bookmarking this post/blog if you liked this!!).

I prefer StumbleUpon, because it is much more than just a social bookmarking service. With just a toolbar, StumbleUpon learns our likes/dislikes and shows us cool websites based on our interests. You can also submit “your discoveries” to it.

5.1 Automatic single-page aggregators

I would like to speak about popurls.com which “is the dashboard for the latest web-buzz, a single page that encapsulates up-to-the-minute headlines from the most popular sites on the internet.” This is an incredible service. There is another one similar to popurls.com: theweblist.net

6. Content Publishing (Speak Out!)

If you want the world to know your thoughts, or if you want to share your knowledge with others, or if you just want to vent your emotions, you CAN. There are many free personal publishing platforms which help you to setup a blog for yourselves in minutes. The leaders are WordPress (This blog is WordPress-ed!), Blogger & LiveJournal. You need not be a techie or a programmer to have your blog up and running. You can start with any one of those mentioned, or you can host your own domain and power it up with any one of the platforms.

7. Content Sharing (File/Photo/Video)

7.1 Share Your Stuff

The whole web is based on the spirit of sharing and you too can share anything you want. You can share files (eg: Rapidshare), images (eg: Flickr) and Videos (eg: YouTube). You can also make money from your content through programmes like, MetaCafe’s Producer Rewards Programme etc.

7.2 Take the Shared Stuff

Downloads are the sweet part of the net-life. You get music, movies, apps, pictures, videos, just anything you want. It is necessary to have a download manager ready for you, so that you may batch-download, pause/resume downloading etc. List of Download Managers.

And there is p2p (peer-to-peer), the king of file sharing. More than 75% of world’s bandwidth is used for p2p. It needs a category of its own, and you may learn more about p2p here & here.

Conclusion

You can get more Web Apps and services here & here.

There’s still more to say. These are only the basics to guide you; even sky is not a limit here.

Note To Wanna’-be Netizens: Are you ready? Any Questions? Put it in the comments.
Remember, Never drop the desire to explore more.

Note To Netizens: Have I missed something important? Use the comment section to let me know.

[[ N.B. You can download this guide in PDF format here. ]]

This Article by aravindjose.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 India License.

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A guy named, baramunchies (http://digg.com/users/baramunchies) submitted the article to Digg and at the time of writing this, my post has a total of 22 Diggs.

Today, I googled “imageshack torrent” and the results were all on the “launch of New Torrent Service From ImageShack”. Almost all posts were made on or after 5th April. The search result showed the p2p-news-giant, TorrentFreak (acclaimed of reporting latest scoops), in the 6th slot with their post dated 5th April.

Even then, their post was digged a whopping 990 times (as at 23.00 IST, 6th April) just in a single day.
Remember, the SCOOPer got only 22 diggs in 7 days.

Yes, I KNEW that TorrentFreak is among the 50 most popular domains featured on the frontpage of Digg.
And now I KNOW a SCOOP is NOT a SCOOP, unless you are that reputed.

What do you say?
(P.S. I was not complaining. The AIM OF THIS POST is to explain, how important is a solid reputation for your blog to be read & digged)

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