I was overwhelmed when The New Indian Express (an Indian Daily), introduced excerpts from blogs in their print edition, daily. They grab excerpts usually from blogs hosted at free services, which posts about current events and world events.

But, nothing proves to be filling the need for insightful content in newspapers or print media, in general. It still shouts about what happened yesterday, rather than help you live today and prepare for tomorrow. The web is always buzzing with startups for today and ideas for tomorrow.

The print media influences the way people think of what have already happened, but, web influences how things will be like tomorrow, even the very next minute. So, if said as a verdict, web is extremely constructive, while the conventional media, though not destructive, isn’t constructive.

You might’ve noticed that my post-frequency has gone down for the past month. It’s nothing like I quit blogging (probability zero), but, it’s just that there’s something else that caused it.

I have the habit of relating web to the so-called real world and while thinking of the complimentary action on web, for what we do in real world by helping out others by donating them money or a job, I discovered the Bloggers’ way of helping out (monetary).

Think of a situation where a blogger needs some urgent money for something very important for him or is struck with a natural disaster, and is not getting the required money from his own blog, other bloggers could help him out. How ? Plain simple - just allow the one who needs, to run his/her AdSense code on your blog. So, every blogger, who is ranked inside an Alexa rank of 75K earns decent sum every month and each of them could act as a savior for many !!

So, won’t it be cool if Nirmal T.V. Of Life Rocks 2.0, Saad Hamid of Sizlopedia, Keith Dsouza of Techie-Buzz and the like, adopted this way ?!! Running the ad code for even a few hours could generate needed amount.

After all, blogs are lives, isn’t it ?

This thought came up when, one morning this week, I unsubscribed from some really nice ‘blog tips’ blogs. I subscribed to them when I started off blogging 6 months back without even knowing what actually it was. And now, without any offense, I silently unsubscribe from them and takes the liberty to state that:

“Blog-Tips niche is nearing it’s end”

That’s not an opinion that formed because of the saturation in the particular niche. Saturation (to a certain limit) does not hinder progress, rather boosts it. Here, I’ll list what lead me to this conclusion:

1. A blog in its basics, is NOT a big deal (in terms of guidance/assistance). Anyone could easily do that.
2. I’m not denying the fact that ‘having some tips and assistance helps’. But, this doesn’t need to to be considered as a whole another niche.
3. You read some FAQs and forums regarding your blogging platform, start off with it, gain some blogger friends, make contact with them, get assistance or guidance, increase the network as required and go on.. (That’s the easiest and the straight-forward way of doing it.)
4. The idea of ‘blog-tips’ blogs sounds to me like : “A system with vehicle-owners who comes to refuel their cars, as the audience, and giving out ‘ideas and tips’ like ‘how-to-open-the-refueling vent, where-to-insert-the-nozzle, how-to-pay-for-the-fuel-you-just-bought etc.
5. The big guys in this niche are indeed extremely knowledgeable and are real GURUs in their field. I respect them for being the pioneers in the field that they indulge. It’s not who-does-that that matters, but, why-do-that.
6. I strongly feel that, the existence of so many blog-tips niche blogs and blogging-guidance-blogs have gave the entire concept of blogging a fake profile that really hinders the progress of blogging.

I thank Sumesh Premraj, who with a reply to my tweet, affirmed this thought. I’ve kept this post short and to the point as I want to be sure that you’ve read atleast the 6 points. Now, let’s start interacting right here.

I’ve encouraged all to visit the labs once in a while and very recently, Google launched SMS Channels at their India Lab. This one seems seriously useful and amazing. Though there are established sites like SMSGupShup, which provide similar service, i.e. Alert your friends and patrons in real time on information that they care about through SMS, because of the very fact that this has got a Google label on it, it has got its place on the web and in minds. I’m not going for a review of Google SMS Channels which enables you to create your own FREE SMS Channels. But, I’m going to demonstrate how we’ve tapped the power of it.

Let me introduce to you all, INTweeter : The SMS Channel of Indian Tweeters

• If you are an Indian and if you tweet (and if you own a mobile phone!!), doubt nothing and subscribe to the INTweeter SMS Channel powered by Google SMS Channels BETA. It aims to keep us informed of Tweetups, Barcamps, Events or anything that’s worth sharing. Fear NO SPAM or rubbish messages.
• Since this channel is of the members, the subscribers can post to the channel and the message will be pushed to all the subscribers, thus making it easy to pass on something important or announcements like a quick meetup/tweetup.
  
• As a precaution against spam, the channel is kept “private”, i.e. “invite-only”. You may send your phone number as an email to me/as a DirectMessage over Twitter/as a Comment here. I will send you the invite.
  
• You can be 100% sure of your privacy.

The Tweets that lead to the formation of INTweeter:

Calling all Indian Tweeters : Interested in creating a INTweeter SMS Channel for us ? Suggestions pls

@mixdev @AravindJose How it will work?

@AravindJose @mixdev To be informed of Tweetups, Barcamps, Events or anything that’s worth sharing. Strictly, NO SPAM.

..and encouraging replies from @SathyaBhat @scorpion032, @abhishek, @krishanu_de @iChaitanya @karthiksn

It’s normal that you might’ve got something to ask or get clarified. Write ‘em in the comments. Honestly, I would like to know what you think of INTweeter (and the logo too !!).

Here’s a cheat sheet of the SMS Commands, taken from Google Labs.

SayTweet is a new Twitter Mashup, but bigger than just a mashup. It’s much more.
It’s an ultra-cool and entertaining way of displaying tweets, which, the creators say, was inspired by the guys at Textopoly.

It essentially, displays the tweets in speech bubbles near the Twitter users who are tagged in a particular image. It’s dynamic, i.e. the image gets updated with the your (and your friends’) latest tweets. It’s to be experienced rather than explained. You’ll get a better picture with the pics below.

daaku, sathyabhat, cruisemaniac, suksy, scorpion032

SayTweet is intended to be driven by Imagination. There’s no limits to what you can do with it. Among some simple ideas,

• Uploading a family photo and tagging each member serves to be a great way of keeping up with everyone.
• Upload that group photo of your school/college which you lovingly cherish and tag your friends. Now, you’ll never ever miss them.
• Remember, you can UPLOAD JUST ANY PICTURE. Be creative, start a twitter profile for your blog (powered by TwitterFeed), upload a pic of you hugging your computer and tag the computer with that username.

These are just some random thoughts about the cool ways in which SayTweet could be used in conjunction with Twitter. Possibilities are endless.  It seems that you’re struck with an idea. Say it loud in the comments.
(Thanks @SathyaBhat for introducing SayTweet.)

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.

The past 7 days have been very eventful with all the so-called giants, releasing their newest products. It all started with Mozilla releasing Ubiquity, Microsoft with a revamped IE8 and Google with their browser, Google Chrome codenamed Chromium.

Over the days, blogosphere was filled with rave reviews, great discussions and many conclusions on what the future is. Much’ve been talked about all the three big-thingies, and as such, I’m not planning for yet another review of these. Just some thoughts on these; that’s all.

Google Chrome

What is Google Chrome ?
Though this has been called a Google’s browser, both by the people and the people at Google, this is not a conventional browser. Apparently, Google Chrome cannot substitute Firefox/IE/Opera/Safari, atleast at this point of time. This could rightly be called the browser for web apps. Google Chrome is similar to Prism (by Mozilla Labs) in its objective, which provides web applications as separate launch-able applications on your desktop.

• You Can Download Google Chrome HERE

Here are some articles you may find interesting about Google Chrome

• Official Google Blog Post
• Read about it at Google BlogoScoped
• Ten Questions About Google Chrome
• Don’t get hooked on this Google Chrome Hype (backs my statement that It cannot replace the other browsers nor is a X/Y/Z Killer.

While going through the official Google Blog, I was excited to know that Google followed the policy : “launch early and iterate.” This is a favourite of many, including mine. They says:

As you may have read in the blogosphere, we hit “send” a bit early on a comic book introducing our new open source browser, Google Chrome.

Certainly, they’ve succeded in getting more coverage and crowd for the launch, that announcing the product only at the time of official launch. Excellent Marketing Tactics !!

Download Mozilla Ubiquity

Download IE8 BETA

I’ve been playing, quite a little bit with Ubiquity. I’m now learning to develop for Ubiquity. YOU TOO CAN. Just head to the Ubiquity Wikis and are the best resources on web for ubiquity.
>Author Tutorial<
>User Tutorial<

If I/YOU come up with anything interesting on Ubiquity, we’ll share it here. You can always use the comments section. It’s open for you