Friday 26 February 2010
Thursday 11 February 2010
Google Buzz — Right Idea, But Wrong Contacts For Me
People have been buzzing about social networks more and more lately. Friends and family that I never thought I’d see on Facebook or Twitter are suddenly appearing in my friend lists. After several years of growing the social seeds, these networks are finally taking root outside the tech world. And Google is jumping in with both feet — today, the search giant introduced Google Buzz.
Obviously this first go around connects some of your Google services with Buzz automatically — Picasa, Google Reader and Gmail, for example. In fact, Buzz is integrated into Gmail in a similar fashion to Tasks or Calendars. But some non-Google bits are available as well — Flickr and Twitter jump out as notable exceptions, although I thought I heard Google representatives say that Twitter integration is one-way — in but not out.
One immediate issue I see is around the context of friends. Since Google Buzz is leveraging Gmail, that’s where your social circles will come from automatically — the Google Contacts that you most email or chat with on Google Talk. That’s very limiting for me and probably for quite a few others. I have very different groupings of friends in Gmail as opposed to Twitter and Facebook, for example. So it sounds like I’ll be melding these groups if I use Google Buzz, which isn’t a very appealing aspect right now. Out of the 700+ folks I follow on Twitter, I’d estimate that I only have 20% of them as Gmail contacts. And I haven’t synched over all of my Facebook contacts into Gmail either. These groups are just different for me.
Regardless of that potential challenge, there is a mobile aspect to Buzz. Browsers on the iPhone or Android platforms can point to buzz.google.com or sign-in to the Google Mobile web page for a Buzz layer. It wouldn’t surprise me if webOS devices could utilize the mobile-friendly version, but I don’t have my Palm Pre to verify that. I’ve already hit the mobile site on my Nexus One and it was easy to post a status update. I declined to tag the location of my update for now, simply because I was at home. It appears that location can easily be switched on or off and it can default to either. I do like the usage of voice updates and text-to-speech on Android phones that support it.
side from the mobile web client, Google is adding Buzz as a layer to Google Maps 4.0 in order to leverage the location-based nature of social networks. It makes me wonder if the Latitude layer will languish since Buzz will handle the same features and more. I updated the Maps application on my Nexus One and found the layer immediately available. Unfortunately, most of my Gmail contacts are far, far away so I’m only seeing comments from nearby Buzz users that I don’t know. Again, this speaks to how Google is using Gmail contacts to seed the friends list. I suppose it’s nice that somebody I don’t know is waiting for a snowstorm in Lancaster, but the value for me isn’t there.
It’s far too early to dismiss Google Buzz, however. I’ll play around a bit more and kick the tires. Not too much though — I heard that comments to what I post will appear in my Gmail Inbox, so I don’t miss them. The only thing I miss these days in my Inbox is “Inbox Zero” — meaning a fully cleaned out Inbox.
Obviously this first go around connects some of your Google services with Buzz automatically — Picasa, Google Reader and Gmail, for example. In fact, Buzz is integrated into Gmail in a similar fashion to Tasks or Calendars. But some non-Google bits are available as well — Flickr and Twitter jump out as notable exceptions, although I thought I heard Google representatives say that Twitter integration is one-way — in but not out.
One immediate issue I see is around the context of friends. Since Google Buzz is leveraging Gmail, that’s where your social circles will come from automatically — the Google Contacts that you most email or chat with on Google Talk. That’s very limiting for me and probably for quite a few others. I have very different groupings of friends in Gmail as opposed to Twitter and Facebook, for example. So it sounds like I’ll be melding these groups if I use Google Buzz, which isn’t a very appealing aspect right now. Out of the 700+ folks I follow on Twitter, I’d estimate that I only have 20% of them as Gmail contacts. And I haven’t synched over all of my Facebook contacts into Gmail either. These groups are just different for me.
Regardless of that potential challenge, there is a mobile aspect to Buzz. Browsers on the iPhone or Android platforms can point to buzz.google.com or sign-in to the Google Mobile web page for a Buzz layer. It wouldn’t surprise me if webOS devices could utilize the mobile-friendly version, but I don’t have my Palm Pre to verify that. I’ve already hit the mobile site on my Nexus One and it was easy to post a status update. I declined to tag the location of my update for now, simply because I was at home. It appears that location can easily be switched on or off and it can default to either. I do like the usage of voice updates and text-to-speech on Android phones that support it.
side from the mobile web client, Google is adding Buzz as a layer to Google Maps 4.0 in order to leverage the location-based nature of social networks. It makes me wonder if the Latitude layer will languish since Buzz will handle the same features and more. I updated the Maps application on my Nexus One and found the layer immediately available. Unfortunately, most of my Gmail contacts are far, far away so I’m only seeing comments from nearby Buzz users that I don’t know. Again, this speaks to how Google is using Gmail contacts to seed the friends list. I suppose it’s nice that somebody I don’t know is waiting for a snowstorm in Lancaster, but the value for me isn’t there.
It’s far too early to dismiss Google Buzz, however. I’ll play around a bit more and kick the tires. Not too much though — I heard that comments to what I post will appear in my Gmail Inbox, so I don’t miss them. The only thing I miss these days in my Inbox is “Inbox Zero” — meaning a fully cleaned out Inbox.
Tuesday 9 February 2010
Two Pakistani Officials Fired For Promoting Indian Propaganda
You will not believe this. But this happened in Pakistan. And two junior government officials might lose their jobs over this. But with a pro-US government in power in Islamabad, and former employees of Voice of America allowed to steer the nation’s media policy, it shouldn’t be surprising to see a Pakistani mouthpiece promoting Indian spin.
India's Central Reserve Police Force, used by India's government to suppress the Kashmiri struggle for freedom, killed a 16-year-old Kashmiri boy the other day.
Nothing new in that. Indians have done worse, like mass graves and genocide. What was unusual here is that Makhdoom Babar Sultan woke up one morning this week in his home in Islamabad to read a clarification in a major Pakistani newspaper issued by the chief of the Indian CRPF assuring readers that Indian occupation police in Kashmir had nothing to do with murdering the 16-year-old, who was last seen throwing stones at Indian soldiers.
Mr. Babar scrathced his head. He was shocked to see who hen he tried to see who wrote the story. It was APP, or the Associated Press of Pakistan, the official news agency.
'Wait a second', he said to himself, 'What is APP doing promoting the viewpoint of Indian occupation forces in Kashmir?'
Pakistanis already know that their government in Islamabad was basically tailored by the Americans and the Brits. No secret in that. The Am-Brits expect this government to push their agenda, which these days includes urgently patching up with India so that the Pakistani people and their military can be convinced to allow Indian soldiers into Afghanistan to help the Americans with their failed occupation there.
But peddling Indian propaganda? That’s going too far.
Unlike the rest of us, Makhdoom Babar is lucky to own a newspaper. So he rushed to his office in the morning to write a story on this, titled ‘APP Starts Promoting Indian Govt’s Kashmir Propaganda’.
Two APP journalists have been suspended and a probe is underway that might lead to some more job losses.
Earlier, two journalists from the state-run PTV were suspended for visiting the US embassy without permission.
When I contacted Makhdoom Babar to get his perspective, he replied with this E-mail note:
“Well, the Associated Press of Pakistan, the APP is the official news agency of the government of Pakistan. the aims and objectives behind running this State news agency is to project the Pakistan government's view point across the globe and throughout the country as well. The Tax Payers' money is spent on the functioning of this agency because it is supposed to promote and project national interests. Especially when it comes to the very sensitive issues like Occupation of Jammu and Kashmir by Indian Forces, the role of APP becomes very important and sensitive as well. it is supposed to confront the media propaganda of the Indian government that New Delhi continues to carry on with to cover up the gross Human Rights violations in the Occupied Kashmir by its brutal Forces. Now if APP releases a news item that actually contributes to the promotion of Indian view point over the Kashmir related matters, particularly the HR violations related matters, it is really alarming for every Pakistani and for me, as an Editor, it becomes even more worrying. That is why we published this as a major news so that such things should be taken care of in future and are not repeated. We have not been officially made known about any action taken by the APP over this issue however unofficial channels say that APP has suspended 2 of its workers over the matter and the Managing Director of APP is reported to have ordered a probe to dig out as to how it did happen. We appreciate the action taken by the the head of APP as a responsible head of an institution but at the same time we expect that no one should be made a scapegoat and only those should be warned or punished who were actually responsible for this blooper, deliberately or un-deliberately. It was very important for the head of the APP to have taken an action over the matter so that everyone stands warned and alarmed regarding such matters.”
At least two senior members of the incumbent Pakistani government are former VOA employees who served in Washington, D.C. Both are directly involved in how Pakistan's official media outlets operate. Informally, Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington is also considered to have a say in the government’s media strategy, according government officials.
India's Central Reserve Police Force, used by India's government to suppress the Kashmiri struggle for freedom, killed a 16-year-old Kashmiri boy the other day.
Nothing new in that. Indians have done worse, like mass graves and genocide. What was unusual here is that Makhdoom Babar Sultan woke up one morning this week in his home in Islamabad to read a clarification in a major Pakistani newspaper issued by the chief of the Indian CRPF assuring readers that Indian occupation police in Kashmir had nothing to do with murdering the 16-year-old, who was last seen throwing stones at Indian soldiers.
Mr. Babar scrathced his head. He was shocked to see who hen he tried to see who wrote the story. It was APP, or the Associated Press of Pakistan, the official news agency.
'Wait a second', he said to himself, 'What is APP doing promoting the viewpoint of Indian occupation forces in Kashmir?'
Pakistanis already know that their government in Islamabad was basically tailored by the Americans and the Brits. No secret in that. The Am-Brits expect this government to push their agenda, which these days includes urgently patching up with India so that the Pakistani people and their military can be convinced to allow Indian soldiers into Afghanistan to help the Americans with their failed occupation there.
But peddling Indian propaganda? That’s going too far.
Unlike the rest of us, Makhdoom Babar is lucky to own a newspaper. So he rushed to his office in the morning to write a story on this, titled ‘APP Starts Promoting Indian Govt’s Kashmir Propaganda’.
Two APP journalists have been suspended and a probe is underway that might lead to some more job losses.
Earlier, two journalists from the state-run PTV were suspended for visiting the US embassy without permission.
When I contacted Makhdoom Babar to get his perspective, he replied with this E-mail note:
“Well, the Associated Press of Pakistan, the APP is the official news agency of the government of Pakistan. the aims and objectives behind running this State news agency is to project the Pakistan government's view point across the globe and throughout the country as well. The Tax Payers' money is spent on the functioning of this agency because it is supposed to promote and project national interests. Especially when it comes to the very sensitive issues like Occupation of Jammu and Kashmir by Indian Forces, the role of APP becomes very important and sensitive as well. it is supposed to confront the media propaganda of the Indian government that New Delhi continues to carry on with to cover up the gross Human Rights violations in the Occupied Kashmir by its brutal Forces. Now if APP releases a news item that actually contributes to the promotion of Indian view point over the Kashmir related matters, particularly the HR violations related matters, it is really alarming for every Pakistani and for me, as an Editor, it becomes even more worrying. That is why we published this as a major news so that such things should be taken care of in future and are not repeated. We have not been officially made known about any action taken by the APP over this issue however unofficial channels say that APP has suspended 2 of its workers over the matter and the Managing Director of APP is reported to have ordered a probe to dig out as to how it did happen. We appreciate the action taken by the the head of APP as a responsible head of an institution but at the same time we expect that no one should be made a scapegoat and only those should be warned or punished who were actually responsible for this blooper, deliberately or un-deliberately. It was very important for the head of the APP to have taken an action over the matter so that everyone stands warned and alarmed regarding such matters.”
At least two senior members of the incumbent Pakistani government are former VOA employees who served in Washington, D.C. Both are directly involved in how Pakistan's official media outlets operate. Informally, Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington is also considered to have a say in the government’s media strategy, according government officials.
Xtravo Explorer: Genius of a 19 year old Pakistani
Imran Sheikh, 19 has developed, what is considered the fastest IE-based browser to date, Xtravo Explorer. Though still in its beta version, this browser has caught the attention of not only the local media but also has gained mass popularity worldwide. The explorer is powered by IE, and its requirements include 10 megabytes (MB) of hard disk drive (HDD), 128 of random access memory (RAM), Net Framework 2 (Compulsory) and Windows Operating System.
Salient features of Xtravo are tab browsing, short cuts, fast browsing, Integrated RSS feeds and Integrated DOM introspection. its advanced pop up blocker, provides its users with safe and secure browsing. However, The individuality of this explorer is not only restricted to loading heavy websites within 10 seconds, but the special features for web designers: Document Reader, which allows one to review the websites coding and Image Grabber, which permits saving multiple pictures at the same time. Also, the improved ftp uploader through which webpages can be uploaded by simply typing: ftp.yourdomain.com.
User reviews on various websites have termed Xtravo as user friendly. However, Sheikh Imran is yet to attain larger mainstream recognition on this remarkable breakthrough of his in the information technology sector of Pakistan. With such a vast list of evangelists while still in its beta version, the explorer is sure to head for great success.
Salient features of Xtravo are tab browsing, short cuts, fast browsing, Integrated RSS feeds and Integrated DOM introspection. its advanced pop up blocker, provides its users with safe and secure browsing. However, The individuality of this explorer is not only restricted to loading heavy websites within 10 seconds, but the special features for web designers: Document Reader, which allows one to review the websites coding and Image Grabber, which permits saving multiple pictures at the same time. Also, the improved ftp uploader through which webpages can be uploaded by simply typing: ftp.yourdomain.com.
User reviews on various websites have termed Xtravo as user friendly. However, Sheikh Imran is yet to attain larger mainstream recognition on this remarkable breakthrough of his in the information technology sector of Pakistan. With such a vast list of evangelists while still in its beta version, the explorer is sure to head for great success.
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