Google acquires Green Border: One step closer to Google OS?

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on May 29, 2007 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Google adds yet another egg to its basket of acquisitions. The latest being California based Green Border which it acquired on the 11^th of May for an undisclosed amount. “GreenBorder creates a protected environment on your computer. Any type of activity and interaction, while you are on the Internet, will be directed to the protected environment. For instance, if you go to a website that is trying to maliciously infest your PC with malware, GreenBorder will keep the malware contained to the protected environment and simply discards it at the end of the session”

While many are speculating this to be a move towards establishing it’s own desktop antivirus, I believe Google has much bigger plans. Given what we know, or assume that Google’s OS will be a Linux Live CD with a built in browser with all apps working on top of that (think Docs, Spreadsheets, Calender); the “protected environment” will actually serve as an online defence mechanism. The browser bundled with the distro will have GreenBorder built right into it confirming to the ‘all apps be web based’ structure.

While the speculations may never come true, one thing we can almost be sure about is that the GreenBorder services will become free. And anything free can never be bad, right ?

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Facebook Platform Arrives. Good Thing? Bad Thing?

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on May 26, 2007 in Uncategorized | 1 comment

Facebook recently introduced the Facebook Platform at the F8 in San Francisco The platform allows developers deep access into the Facebook technologies, which essentially lets them build ‘Applications’ based on Facebook. So they are allowed to interact with users, conduct transactions and even display ads (Only where Microsoft ads aren’t being displayed).

The start up has been shaky to say the least. Applications have been frequently disappearing or simply not working. As I write this post, the Application directory is unavailable and I’m expected to look at my mini-feed to discover new apps. But that is understandable that this is a huge step forward for Facebook; and with the introduction of 40 something Applications on launch itself, the servers were bound to crawl. Obviously there are no doubts about the fact that Facebook will pull their act together in a matter of few days; and with Applications being constantly developed as we speak, this will definitely be something to talk about for the next few weeks.

But the real question remains, is this really a good thing? The Facebook applications are nothing but Widgets a user places on their profiles. This in itself beats the whole uniformity principle Facebook has become famous for. A visit to the website would ensure we would see all Users’ profiles in the same manner, and not with flashy colours or glittery fonts. While the last two things haven’t changed (yet), the introduction of Widgets means that every user will basically have a different profile-style altogether. After all, the platform does allow immense control to the developer. And with the platform open to pretty much anyone, what’s stopping a 13 year old with good programming skills but horrible color taste from developing an “application” that plays Avril Lavigne.

Sure Facebook has it’s brilliant privacy controls and all other restrictions which have made it miles better than MySpace. But can it pull this one off without comprising on its basic principles; simplicity and uniformity.

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Beating Procrastination, Getting Things Done…

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on May 11, 2007 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

I often find myself struggling to get things done. I know what to do and I’ll even make a mental schedule of when and how to do it. It’s just the ‘doing’ part which gets postponed till eternity. But the solution to this is so simple and trivial; it makes you feel stupid for not having noticed it earlier. I had a number of tasks set out for me which were due for a few days, and would not be done for another few days had I continued in the same manner. And then I learnt the best way to make oneself do something is to write it down. Yes it really was that simple. Try it out if you don’t believe me. Write down the tasks on a white board or a large piece of paper and put it up somewhere clearly visible. If you’ve written the tasks on a whiteboard, don’t’ erase them once you’re done; instead just strike them out so you can see what you have achieved. I speak as I’ve proudly completed 2 of the 5 tasks I set out for myself in half a day today; normally I would’ve probably waited another 2-3 days before finally giving in.

India Preparing 10$ Laptop

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on May 4, 2007 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Times of India reports The Human Resource Development Ministry of India has received two designs for an ultra low cost laptop to be manufactured and used for schools in India. One of the designs have come from a final year engineering student at the Vellore Institute of Technology, the other being from a researcher at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Right now the costs come up to 47$ but the ministry expects the cost to decrease greatly since there is a demand of over 1 Million pieces.

Even though a working piece may not see the light of day for another two years, it is great to know that an initiative is in progress to harness the true power of the youth of India. Should India continue development at this rate, I guess the predictions of it being a political and economic super power by 2020 might be true after all.

[Source: Times of India]

May 1: The Day Digg almost died. The Day Digg was reborn.

Posted by Bhavishya Kanjhan on May 2, 2007 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

The first of May will be remembered by Diggers for years to come. It could be remembered as the day Digg almost died or it could be remembered as the day Digg was firmly (re) established as a democracy in its truest sense. The Digg Administrative staff along with the rest of the online community sat with their hands tied down as they were taught a lesson of how the freedom of speech will not be taken away from the Diggers.

Not only did Digg deleted the two stories relating to the HD-DVD Processing key made public , it blocked the website (rudd-o.com) that housed the story, deleted comments and went as far as banning users. In a blog post entitled “What’s Happening with HD-DVD Stories?” Digg CEO Jay Adelson said “..we want Digg to continue to be a great resource for finding the best content. However, in order for that to happen, we all need to work together to protect Digg from exposure to lawsuits that could very quickly shut us down.” Weather it was done to avoid lawsuits, or to protect their corporate interests (Diggnation podcast was sponsored by HD-DVD a few episodes ago) remains a matter of question.

Censorship isn’t something Diggers are used to and it isn’t something they would take; especially with the fact that hundreds of other websites, including rival Slashdot proudly retained the key on their website and servers. The ‘normal’ flow of Digg was brought to a standstill as in a few hours the entire Digg website was flooded by stories carrying smart manipulations of the Key in the form of pictures, numbers, MD5 Hashes etc. They did everything to ‘stick it up to the man’. More than 50000 ‘diggs’ were recorded on stories relating to the key, 45000 of which were on the front page alone. For them it wasn’t about the key; the key had already been available since February this year at various places. It was about the principle of Digg turning its back on the very user base that it made such a huge success. Such was the impact of this ‘revolt’ that Digg itself felt the ‘Digg Effect’; a term attributed to the phenomenon of Website servers acting sluggish or becoming unavailable because of the high intensity of traffic.

Soon enough the Digg staff realised what they were up against and who the power really belong to. In a post entitled “Digg This: 09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0”, Kevin Rose founder of Digg said

“But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be.

If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying.”

This has now become the highest dugg post in the history of Digg at more than 28500 diggs and it continues to rise. While many comments on the website claimed the ‘death’ of Digg; it was also the day Digg was reborn. Like a phoenix, it was reborn from its own ashes, only much stronger and bigger. I can say with certainty that after today, no one, not even the Digg staff will dare underestimate the power of its community.