Trying to write a book review

Now seriously, I have no idea on writing a book review. But I have been thinking of starting this new thing also. And the best place to write to is my blog,which I doubt hardly any sensible person reads nowadays(making it safe for my experiments [;)] )

So here goes..
The book is "The GOOGLE Story" (OK, majority of the people out there would have read this already) by David.A.Vise. I had taken it from Manu the last time I went home.
I had always wanted to read this book,but couldn't get my hands on it before.

I had started reading this book in the bus(just as it left EKM bus stand on 4th Oct), and finished it just half an hour ago.

The initial parts of the book talk about Larry and Sergey,their families and how they met. Those chapters lay down the firm foundation of who the people are. It was very enjoyable to read,and think about.

Then later on the author brings to light how the idea of Google came up ,who all helped in its early stages(like Late Rajeev Motwani) and the problems they faced and solved(both technical and financial).

Later on when the company faces serious financial needs and the Google guys have to make a decision to get funds from the two venture capitalist firms,the nerdy view of the duo is taken off. They come out as excellent businessmen with a great idea and a never ending passion to implement it.

From that point onwards,the books tells how Google slowly grew up into a respectable company after the dot com bust. The way they managed to maintain growth and innovation,while not losing focus on their core area, made them what they are today. I really was inspired by their technical and business acumen.

Then onwards the author narrates how Eric Schmidt came into the picture,as well as many other new employees.A lot of small narratives have been provided to show how some key developments took place in the market. Everywhere the trio(Larry,Sergey and Eric) were highly active and involved.

Quite a lot of pages have been dedicated to throw some light on the famous Google lifestyle and atmosphere of the Googleplex,including the culinary facilities.
Also,Google's foray into the ad market was covered pretty well, and the various issues they faced while getting into the hot market are given as a good narrative.

Overall its a good read for a range of people irrespective of whether they already know much about the great corporate of our times. The author has taken care to keep technical content to minimum and make it narrative and easy to perceive for all kinds of readers. I must also admit that at some places,the author seems to praise the company too much,but overall he narrates from a neutral point of view. You will definitely like it if you are an ardent Googler...or a Googlomaniac.. so if you haven't read this book yet.. go get it and enjoy maadi...

Rat business

I just visited www.l.google.com and saw the above logo.
I was wondering why the 'rat' was doing the weightlifting....initially I couldn't see any reason...then I remembered that this is the year of the Rat for the chinese.That is why the rat is doing the weightlifting.

And when i visited www.google.co.in I saw this


I wonder what that red mark on the right bottom is...I tried magnifying..but looks like some house.can someone point out what it is actually?

Internet Tools---Google wins

This can be seen as the continuation of my first post on Google!!!

This time I am posting coz I am overwhelmed by the range of tools that I am using as a netizen.

First among those are as usual Google tools only.


Gmail is my most trusted and fav mail service.I have a/cs in many major services,but only gmail prevailed,Yahoo! also prevails,but its interface is heavy.I like Yahoo! services now,they are luking gud and will make improvements.

As for groups,I had few groups in Yahoo!,now shifted to Google Groups 2.Its slick and easy interface that allows listing msgs together is rather cool,compared to Yahoo! provided.I am hoping for Yahoo! to follow suit and make rapid improvements in that field too,coz I noticed the implementation of msg stacking and complex listing methods they are trying,nice..Yahoo! keep it up.

I have this one blog and another tech one,so I am interested in keeping track of visitors,the sources and all kinda info.Google Analytics rock...truly.The plethora of tools and data that is provided by that single tool can leave u customizing ur pages and understanding possible trends.Yahoo or another service wont come near it.Sitemeter is kinda ok,but not near google's counterpart.

Google Webmasters tool is also looking great.I have added my sites there and will check how the crawling is happening and wat kind of optimisations can bring in more visitors to my content(wich i am trying to upgrade in terms of originality and frequency).

Now I have to refer to the page "My Account" to find the services I am using,such a long list.

aah..Orkut.What to say about this revolutionary social networking site.Its the news in every part of the world.The name and the brand google says it all for it.Compared to other services provided by Google,this lacks serious professional attitude from the designers,I have felt that for long.But now many steps have been taken to remove those "doughnut" things and speeds have increased.The idea to integrate flash videos and album customization has gone long way in bringing back old fans.The reply from ur scrap feature is really cool.The updates listing is something less expected at intial times of orkut,but now ppl have competitions of writing attractive profiles(though compared to other services,customization is at lowest point).Communities have also become more sensible and cool with polls and all..orkut is surely moving up the popularity and quality graph once again.Customization is quite a deterrent from making orkut superb compared to the likes of Facebook,Myspace etc..wich are really gr8 luking in terms of eye-candy and functionalities.The large Indian mass hanging onto Orkut has made it a place not many can leave forever as most of frndz and contacts prefer to stick to orkut(sigh...these ppl don't adapt to changes fast).

Another thing is the integration of one of my fav tools ,Yahoo! Answers with orkut.Though not integration,the similar service has started new time pass things.
Btw yahoo answers is a really cool thing,u learn and also enjoy the whole process.
Ppl refer to sites and compile data to make replies,that nice to get integrated answers,but then ur question shud catch the attraction of dedicated answerers(u must see their number of ans and best ans...u will wonder wat other jobs these guys/gals have!!)

I also use online photo albums,I had Yahoo! photos,now Flickr...really nice ....like I said Yahoo is upto gud things now.I am not so satisfied with Google Picasa that needs the tool to be present on the system.I am no-no for tat kinda service.

Another really great tool that I use quite often is Google Docs.This is simply revolutionary by all standards.C'mon how many services allow u to use Word,Excel like interfaces on the net,free of charge???Doc makes sharing my projects,seminar notes,and all kinds of things that an engg student needs,such a simple thing.Sharing with collaborators and also viewers..its really a cool thing all in all.

I am also a fan of gtalk while being in Windows and I rely on Pidgin messenger of Ubuntu to integrate my Yahoo and Google accounts.Nothing beats that!!Yahoo has started its messenger online,its ok,but i prefer tat on my system.

I have also signed up with Google Adsense.Though not much earning(abt $5 only),the idea is nice.I can atleast I earned tat much.:D

As far as the blogs are concerned,the wide variety of tool that blogger has provided after integration with google is simply breathtaking.This has allowed amateurs like me to venture into blogging.Videos,polls,adsense integration....really cool..the templates provided also are great luking.

Another new tool of Google:Google Image Labeler
Its a sort of game you play with another player in random.Both play at giving labels to the image they show.Matching causes u and partner to get points.This is meant to refine their search ability and also understand the possible sequence of thoughts that a user has on giving an image query.This is surely gonna be subject to Data Mining to obtain intelligent decisions for their algorithms..way to go Google.Try it at


Basically my net activities are like this:
1)Mail check(gmail and yahoo only)
2)Chatting(Gmail,gtalk or pidgin)
3)Tech probs(Digit forum,yahoo answers,google search which means all sites are open)
4)browsing all kinds of media and topics(google and wiki rock)
5)Online videos of songs,speech,games,trailers..etc.(google video and youtube also many new services)
6)Anime and game music(search galbadia hotel in Google)
7)Torrents activity--Mininova,Torrentz,isohunt,desitorrents(dead) and demonoid(dead??)..clients being utorrent,azureus,now fav is deluge.
8)P2P music downloading---Strictly Limewire
9)Blogging---only blogspot

After saying all this ,I must say one tool tat i use mostly is google search and all google products.Advanced searching in google is really powerful,thought the methods might be slight complex...the stuff is the best u get....

Google,my favorite

Just see the way google goes.Everyday they bring out something new and interesting.As a computer engineering student,I am very much enthusiastic about google.Here are some services provied by Google.
1)Google Search(best search engine ever)
2)Gmail(most secure mail service,which incorporates mail chat)
3)Google Desktop Find all your information, whether it's on the web or stored on your computer, from one convenient location
4)Google Groups 2 Create and join searchable discussion groups and mailing lists
5)Google Talk(chat messenger,ligh and user friendly)
6)Google Notebook (clip and collect information as you surf the web)
7)Google Trends (gives search trends for specific keywords..superb)
8)Google Toolbars for IE and Firefox
9)Google Safe Browsing for firefox
10)Google Video(searches for video,tv program on the net)
11)Google Page Creator(helps build simple web pages)
12)Google Reader( Use Google's web-based feed reader to keep up with what's important to you)
13)Google Web AcceleratorSave time online by loading web pages faster
14)Google Ride FinderFind a taxi, limousine or shuttle using real time position of vehicles
15) Google MarsView some of the most detailed maps of Mars created by NASA scientists
16) Google SuggestAs you type your search, Google offers keyword suggestions in real time
17)Froogle Mobile US | Froogle Mobile UK Search for products from your mobile phone using Froogle
18) Google SetsAutomatically create sets of items from a few examples
19)Google News Alerts Specify a topic and receive email updates when news breaks
20)Google Glossary Find definitions for words, phrases and acronyms
21)Search by Location Restrict your search to a particular geographic area
22)Web Alerts Find out about new web pages on a topic of interest
23) Google ScholarSearch through journal articles, abstracts and other scholarly literature
24)Google MapsView maps, get driving directions, and search for local businesses and services.
25)Personalize Your HomepageSee information you care about on your Google homepage
26) Personalized SearchGet the search results most relevant to you
27) Picasa Find, edit and share your photos
28)Translate View web pages in other languages
29)University Search Search a specific school's website
30)Book Search Search the full text of books
31) Images Search for images on the web
32)Google SketchUp-helps you to make 3D model of landscapes and allows to upload to Google Earth...
33)Google spreadsheet-A wonderful online tool which allows you to create and maintain spreadsheets online.All features of MS Excel too are evident!


Well these are not all,just few.Individually,these may seem to useless to a common user,but when integrated they make one helluva software.