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Saturday, April 30, 2005

Cricket: Photo Articles on Laxman, Zaheer, and Irfan

VVS  Laxman's wristy on-drive


Nice photo articles on Zaheer, Laxman, and Irfan.

Should VVS be in India's one-day eleven? It is always better to have a specialist batsman like Laxman who delivers atleast 50% of the time rather than a bits-and-pieces all-rounder like Dinesh Mongia who doesn't get a chance to show his skills in either batting or bowling. Dinesh Mongia is good, but VVS Laxman is a better batsman.

1-minute quiz: What is Laxman's fullname?
His nickname is Very Very Special Laxman.

Technorati Tag:


Yahoo! Mail to provide 1 GB of email storage space


Yahoo! Mail plans to offer 1GB of email storage space from the first week of May. Yahoo! has picked speed, let's see how it counters and catches up with GMail's plan of daily increase in email storage, which is now at 2146 MB and increasing.

Technorati Tag:


Thoughts on Google and France


Why is France against Google's digitization initiative?

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible.
Just because Google has started their library digitization initiative from USA doesn't mean they won't progress on this initiative and extend it to France, other parts of Europe, Asia Pacific, and Africa. They sure will.

Why are French librarians, researchers, and politicians paranoid of Google? Google is not going to eat them up. The challenge to Google is good. But the challenge as an affront to it is not correct. Compete with them, but why point fingers on what is (will be) right or wrong? Ask Google a simple question. What are your plans for France? Do you propose to digitize the libraries of France?

Google won't impose US culture on the world. Now one can impose anything on anyone. It is the mind that subjugates. If you have that feeling then you will. Google is a global company and their initiatives of making Google UK Local and Maps, their interfaces in 'n' number of languages, their Ad services in different languages, and their diverse workforce proves it to be an organization that encompasses the world. How old is Google? 7th Sept. 1998 till date - 6.5 years. Give Google time and see how it changes the world. Have patience dear friends from France.

Instead of making a united front against Google, why not start an initiative with Google France (they have a sales office in Paris) to start a digitization campaign for French libraries. How's that for a suggestion?

All languages are beautiful. It takes people to bring out their beauty. Spread French culture across the world, start a project with Google for digitizing the libraries of France.

I had a thought on this and posted it online.

Technorati Tag:


Personal - Lyrics that make me Cry


These lyrics always make me cry, or maybe it is 12:54 a.m. on a calm Saturday morning, listening to Kal Ho Na Ho for the 18th time, can't see the moon from my bedroom window. On other days, the moon sneaks from the distant building and within minutes goes up in the sky.

Chahe jo tumhe poore dil se
Milta hai woh mushkil se
Aisa jo koi kahin hai
Bas vahi sabse haseen hai
Us haath ko tum thaam lo
Woh meherbaan kal ho na no


These lyrics..
Ho Palkon ki leke saaye
Paas koi jo aaye

Laakh sambhaalo paagal dil ko
Dil dhadke hi jaaye

Par soch lo is pal hai jo
Woh daastaan kal ho na ho


Taking the support of eyelids (as teardrops)
She comes near you

Try protecting your crazy heart (from pining for her) a hundred thousand times
It keeps on pining for her

But think what you have this moment
That story may or may not be there tomorrow


Update: 01:08 a.m. Wow! I can see the moon, it has sneaked from the distant building, it's halfway toward its position. Half-light, half-shade, I can see someone's face in that serene plate of white and grey.

Feeling hungry. gtg.


Friday, April 29, 2005

Jargon Joke


I'm in a happy mood. Let me write a joke that I thought of this evening.

Three software guys are discussing their companies and work.

First: I'm a senior software developer. My company builds cutting-edge, scalable solutions that deliver real-time, strategic, business critical analysis that empowers managerial decision-making to cut costs and improve productivity, which results in increased revenues and greater shareholder loyalty.

Second: I'm a software consultant. My company deploys a best-of-breed brick-n-mortar solution that follows critical quality control procedures and accelerates time-to-market, slashes time-to-manufacture, increases ROI, improves productivity, cuts costs, and impacts the bottom line of verticals, which adds value to the faith of investors in our endeavor to enhance the quality of life in this digital age by generating revenues that fuel the growth of a bellwether stock like ours. (Note: He was a consultant, so he knew more 'words' than the developer)

The third guy kept silent.
The other two asked him with an egoistic and scornful look, "So, what do you do for a living, eh?"

Third: I am a Web writer. I write the 'buzz' words that make your solutions what they are.
Btw, what's cutting-edge? :-)

Chill, it's a joke. Thought of this on my way back home from work. Btw, I do use accelerates decision-making.

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Friday Morning

Personal

In a foul mood on a Friday morning.

No electricity in office. Courtesy, Pune's infamous four-hour load-shedding schedule.
Computer is on, which is good, but the fans and ACs are off.
Is this a way to save money in office?
There may be some reasons, but if they're earning xyzee USD per day, what prevents them from spending 10% of that on a generator set!

Pune' infrastructure needs improvement.

Thank God Bangalore is the Silicon Valley of India and not Pune. With the kind of roads, power situation, and infrastructure that Pune has even a 40% increase in IT companies will result in the city stopping in its tracks.

Pune's roads - 4 on 10
(It's summer. In monsoon it is 1 on 10)
Pune's traffic sense - 4 on 10 (outsiders give a 0)
Pune's load-shedding - 2 on 10
Pune's traffic policemen - 2 on 10

There's a 4-hour power-cut at fixed times in the city. If the power-cut is during morning peak hours, the signals are off, and at that time there are no traffic policemen in sight.

Pune needs to cultivate traffic sense (like Bombay has). Hyderabad's traffic density is more, but it has the roads. Pune doesn't have the roads and the traffic is burgeoning.

There's road concretization going on in our area, Nagar Road. One-half of the road is under construction, 10% of the other half is covered with construction material and the remaining part of the road takes 200% of the evening traffic and the streetlights are always off, without any dividers. People don't say anything, because that's the way work is done here, and we're all used to it, and it's matter of time before the construction activity will end, and there will be a smooth, wide, and concrete road.

A suggestion for Pune's traffic police force.
Everyone knows the police force is underpaid, overworked, has low self-esteem, and a high sense of arrogance and power. Why not make policemen accountable?
A drastic suggestion would be to reduce their working hours (yes, actually reduce the time they work), make it a six-hour shift for them and expect them to work for that time in a selected area. Then choose the best areas with traffic sense and reward the traffic police for that.

Pune's people are to be blamed too. If Bombay, where each minute counts has the traffic sense to let the lights turn from red to green, why can't we in Pune wait till the traffic signal countdown comes to zero and then start. Anywhere in Pune, as soon as the traffic countdown timer reaches 11..10..9..8 people start their bikes and zoom off. This chalta hai (This is the way it is) attitude makes us so complacent and is the downfall of Pune, which is one of the best cities in India, except for the traffic, roads, infrastructure, and power shortage—all of which can be addressed by the authorities.

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Thursday, April 28, 2005

Thoughts on Why Yahoo! Doesn't Generate a Buzz as Google Does


Why a Beta product from Yahoo! doesn't generate a buzz as Google does?

An example:

Google introduced My Search History and the blogosphere and cyberspace was abuzz with it.
Yahoo! introduced My Web (Beta) and people came to know, but it didn't generate a buzz.

This is from a Yahoo! user's and not an investment banker's or a research analyst's point-of-view.

Cool Factor
I think it's because of the cool factor.
People think of Google as a cool, great, fun, easy going, fantastic place to work. Google projects itself as a Do No Evil, cool, vibrant, and colorful company. Yahoo! needs to rejuvenate its consumer marketing efforts. For example, Yahoo!'s web page that sells apparel and outdoor gear, Yahoo! Gear, still has a 2004 look to it and is going to be updated in 2005. When? Now, check Google Store. See the difference. Google reaches out to its audience. Yahoo! should promote themselves as a cool company.
We are Yahoo! and this is what we do, and introduce some contests etc.

Promote the Yahoo! brand
Yahoo! is a sponsor of the Bangalore International Marathon to be held on the 15th of May. They can distribute free T-Shirts and caps with the red and purple Yahoo! logos to everyone who registers through their site. They can also give prizes to people who complete the run and have special offers for techies who take part in the competition. Yahoo! can promote other activities in Bangalore, Sunnyvale, and offices around the world. Say, a Yahoo! week full of contests, games, and fun offers for users.

Yahoo! needs to make people feel its buzz.
Something different from what they've been doing. First thing, get the cool quotient to rise. They have a great punchline - "Do you Yahoo? I do." They can play around with this and make their marketing campaigns around the brand Yahoo!

Let me write a sample copy for a Yahoo! ad.

If you want to remember one site for everything on the Internet and forget the rest. What will it be? One site that provides everything you need.

Do you Yahoo!?

- Send email, Find info, Read news, Share photos, Shop for gifts, Buy appliances, Send greetings, Read movie reviews, Listen to music, Chat with friends, Play games, Follow sports, Write blogs, Get the latest in Entertainment, Download wallpapers, Get local, Get more clicks for your Ads, Get a date, Make friends, Upload your own Web site, Connect to your cellphone, Keep updated, all this and much more, with a only a few clicks on any Yahoo! page.

So do you have a reason to remember any other site?
Whatever it is, get it from Yahoo!
Do you Yahoo!? I do!


Had these thoughts after checking news stories on Google and Yahoo personal searches and posted this. 1160 results for Yahoo My Web and 3340 results for Google My Search History on Google News.

Update:
Yahoo! rebrands Overture as Yahoo! Search Marketing for US markets and also has a Yahoo! Search Marketing Contest. The international editions of Overture will be rebranded later on.

Technorati Tags: , , and





Comments section for the benefit of those who read this blog in RSS Aggregators.

Hi Jatin-

Thanks for the your comment.

Yahoo! did advertise their Beta News launch and Contextual Search, however as you noted, few people outside the Search and allied industries noted it.

Yahoo! needs to make the world feel that each product it launches has the potential to change the way people use the Internet to their advantage.

Yahoo!'s Contextual Search, Y!Q is a fantastic feature and will play a major role in Yahoo!'s advertising plans based on contextual searching. You can also embed Y!Q in your Web site and make each page/post offer a contextual search option.
I've been using it on my blog for over a month and I've also written posts about it and conducted trial searches with it.

Yahoo!'s News page (Beta) has got a good makeover. Their Buzz Log shows the latest trends in Web searching and gives an overview of what the world is searching for on Yahoo, a Zeitgeist of our times. It is comprehensive, exhaustive, informative, and updated daily.

Yahoo! has the steam and it is picking speed. Good luck to Yahoo!

Google as a company has always kept a step ahead of its competition. Yahoo! is a strong competitor in Desktop Search and Internet Advertising. It will be interesting to see when Yahoo! launches its Contextual Advertising Service.

Learn more about Y!Q search on http://yq.search.yahoo.com/

Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Good luck.

Cheers
Chirayu


Jatin's points:
- Why didn't Yahoo! advertise their Contextual Search and Beta News features?
- Yahoo! needs to compete with Google in Search and PR activities.
- Yahoo!'s Contextual Search is good and adds value to surfing. (Yes, it does)
- Yahoo!'s My Web has more features than Google. (Yes, it is more than Beta)

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Personalize Your Searches with Yahoo! My Web (Beta)


What's New at Yahoo!?
Yahoo!'s Personal Search - My Web (Beta)

Yahoo! Search My Web (Beta)
My Web (Beta)

Experience Yahoo!'s personalized search with Yahoo! My Web (Beta)

Yahoo! has added features like importing bookmarks, adding a search to My Web from the Yahoo toolbar and has revamped their personal search service mysearch.yahoo.com to Yahoo! My Web (Beta).

Your personal search engine on the Web.
Yahoo! My Web (Beta)

- Search on Yahoo
- Save your searches
- Add notes and customize saved searches
- Categorize saved searches
- Import Yahoo! bookmarks
- Search within saved searches (Your Personal Web)
- Find and retrieve those searches whenever you want to

No need to remember search keywords, bookmark urls, or add to Favorites.
Search, save, customize, categorize, and retrieve results anytime.
Yahoo! My Web (Beta) makes Search simple and personal.

How to access Yahoo! My Web (Beta)

- Select My Web (Beta) link from the Yahoo! Search page http://search.yahoo.com/
- Login to My Web (Beta) and start using Yahoo! My Web (Beta)

Q: What is the difference in Usability of Yahoo! My Web (Beta) and Google My Search History (Beta)?
A: Yahoo! gives the option of customizing searches by adding notes and saving them under different (customized) folders. See the image given below.

Yahoo! My Web Personalized Search


What should be next for Yahoo!?

Now Yahoo! should integrate My Yahoo! (RSS Headlines) with My Web! (Personal Search) and get Yahoo! Contextual ads either as an RSS feed or a JavaScript. It will be a great combination of personal search, RSS aggregator, and content-based advertising.

Personalize your Yahoo! search experience.
Try Yahoo! My Web (Beta)
Select My Web (Beta) link from the Yahoo! Search page http://search.yahoo.com/

All the best, Yahoo!

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Google Tests RSS Ads

Google tests RSS Advertising on the web log, LonghornBlogs.
See the right sidebar of the above link for Main Feeds RSS button and Google Sponsored Links.

A Thought for Today

There is a wonderful, mystical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life, happiness, freedom, and peace of mind, are always attained by giving them to someone else.

Technorati Tag: Quotes

Personal

Boy, am I becoming comfortably numb here?
It's cool, except for work on Saturdays.
It does get hot, sweaty, and somewhat uncomfortable when there's a 4-hour power-cut (no electricity from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today) and the (strange, but true) computers are on, but the fans and A/Cs are off. That's a, let's say, unique way of cost-cutting and economisation.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

New Advertising Options on Google AdWords


Google AdWords to provide Site-Targeting and CPM Pricing

Google plans to start Site Targeting, and CPM bidding in the coming weeks on Google AdWords.

Site targeting

Site targeting will allow advertisers to select specific sites on which they can show their ads.
For example: If I'm selling Hotel Rooms in LA, I can target specific travel, tourism, hotels, hospitality, vacation, business, and related Web sites and set a CPM (cost per 1000 impressions) bid to show my ads.

CPM Pricing
Advertisers will pay-per-1000-impressions of their ads on a specific web site

- For AdWords Advertisers
They will have the option of setting an amount for 1000 impressions.
For example: I want to sell NYC Hotels. I'll set a CPM limit of $500 (50 cents per impression) and pay for every impression (irrespective of a clickthrough) on a specific Web site.

- For AdSense Publishers (Web site owners like you and me):
They will earn each time a CPM ad is shown on their web page.

Google AdWords CPM pricing is available only with site-targeted ads.
The minimum allowable bid is $2 per 1000 impressions.

- Difference between CPM and CPC

# CPM: Cost-per-1000-impressions
An impression is when an ad is shown on a Web page, irrespective of whether it is clicked or not. The advertiser pays for showing an ad on the Web page. It may or may not be clicked. Everytime an ad is shown on a chosen/specific site, the advertiser pays.

# CPC: Cost-per-Click
The advertiser pays only when someone clicks on the ad shown on the Web page.

Expanded Text Ads and more image ads

- A new ad format that expands to fill the entire text ad unit. Only one ad will appear in the entire box.
- A special section that allows publishers to choose only image ads to show on their web site.

Related Links

Read Site Targeting FAQs on Google AdWords. Here is a screenshot of selecting specific sites for showing a Site-Targeted ad. Read more about Google's Site-Targeted advertising service.

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Monday, April 25, 2005

Zen Story

A Zen Story on Concentration.


After winning several archery contests, the young and boastful champion challenged a Zen master who was renowned for his archery skills. The young man showed his remarkable skill with the bow when he hit a distant bull's eye with his first arrow, and then split that arrow with his second shot. "See," he said, pointing at the split arrows and speaking to the Zen master, "let me see if you can match that!"

The master said nothing. He did not even draw his bow, but rather looked at the young archer and asked him to follow him up the mountain. Curious to know the old fellow's intentions, the young archer followed him up the mountain. As they reached the top, the young archer saw a deep chasm that was spanned by a thin and shaky log.

Easily stepping on the thin, dangerous, and shaking bridge the old master picked a far away tree as a target, drew his bow, and let go a fast, clean, and direct hit.
"Now it is your turn," he said politely as he stepped back on solid ground.

Staring with terror at the unending depth of the bottomless pit, the young champion could not even step on the wooden bridge, leave aside drawing a bow and shooting. "You have much skill with the bow," the wise Zen master said, sensing the young archer's look of shame and fear "but you have little skill with the mind that lets loose the shot."



The mind that lets loose the shot!

Affirmation Lyrics

Affirmation Lyrics

I believe we place our happiness in other people's hands
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
I believe your most attractive features are your heart and soul
I believe that family is worth more than money or gold
I believe forgiveness is the key to your unhappiness
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye
- Read the complete lyrics of Affirmation by Savage Garden

Technorati Tag: Lyrics

Who will be India's New Cricket Coach?

Thoughts on India's New Cricket Coach.

Former Indian cricket captain and coach Ajit Wadekar says India doesn't have to look for foreign coaches when players of the stature of Sunny Gavaskar and Kapil Dev are there to take on the mantle of coaching the Indian cricket team.

The names of Australians, Greg Chappell and Tom Moody are being considered for coaching India. I feel Ravi Shastri will be a good choice if he decides to do coaching instead of commentating. Ravi Shastri played defensive cricket, but he was an aggressive thinking captain in whatever opportunities he got to captain India and he captained Bombay with distinction.

Sunil Gavaskar will be a defensive coach. He always played for a draw (not by compulsion, but that was the way test cricket was played in the early 80s). Kapil Dev has already got a chance. Greg Chappell seems to be a good choice and will bring Australia's discipline and coaching methodologies that will make India an aggressive and disciplined team while retaining its sublime touch.

What do you think?
I think, Greg Chappell or Ravi Shastri if he says yes (if the contract is lucrative enough for him).

Technorati Tag:

In love, life, and sport if you play for a draw you never win.

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Today's ToI - Sunday Edition Supplement


Today's Sunday Supplement of ToI is fit for the dustbin. Check the Life section. The ToI wants its readers to know the sexual fantasy of a Bollywood actress. Sex sells and there's nothing new about it. Out of a million happening things they want their readers to read this.

There are thousands/millions of Web sites that provide this information, so what's the difference between The ToI and some glamour/babe Web site that provides this info. Nothing!

ToI please get an official name change from The Times (Slimes) of India to The Spicy Tabloid of Glamour in India and don't forget the 'Zoom' suggestive Os in it.

Gaurav writes on his blog that even the content in the ToI article is made up (by the actress herself). Read the actual story here. (Link via Gaurav)


6-Hour Power-Cut Today

Personal

There was a power-cut from 07:15 a.m. to 11:35 a.m. It rained in the afternoon with thunder and lightning and there was a power-cut once again from 03:45 to 06:00 p.m. A 6-hr power-cut on a Sunday! What's the point of a holiday then? I should be in office. At least I can surf the Internet!

An inverter costs Rs. 9500/- and I'm planning to buy one instead of a digital camera. At least the fans and tubelights will be on.

Pune's Development Pangs


What's happening to Pune? Struggling with load-shedding and crumbling infrastructure—bad roads, streetlights not working.

For the last three days there were no lights on the Yerwada bridge (8 pm).
The stretch of Nagar Road from Shastrinagar onwards is being concretized so one-half is blocked and on the other half dividers are kept that change daily and there are no streetlights. I've to turn right against the traffic and the turning changes daily. Sometimes there's a divider, sometimes there's no divider, and the streetlights are never on. One-half of the road is being concretized is not the reason for keeping the streetlights switched off.

Technorati Tag:


Happy Birthday, Sachin!

24th April 2005
Sachin Tendulkar turns 32 today.

Happy Birthday, Sachin!
The world hopes to see the magic of your willow in full flow this year.

A Fantastic Cricket Quote

"Viv Richards is Viv Richards. I won't compare myself with anyone else."
- Viv Richards
(Sir Issac Vivian Alexander Richards)

Saturday, April 23, 2005

More Load Shedding in Pune

May will be hotter this summer.
More Load shedding in Pune and parts of Maharashtra except Bombay.
4 hours per day for 6 days-a-week.

In Dec. 2004 it was a 15-hour power-cut per week.
In Feb 2005 it became an 18-hour power-cut per week.
Now it is a 24-hour power-cut per week.
This is the schedule for urban areas.
For rural areas it is a 54-hr (9*6) power-cut per week.

To Read: Blogs will change your business

Read BusinessWeek's How Blogs will change your business
Update: Read.

Read BusinessWeek's blog, Blogspotting.net

The best way to blog and get noticed.
- Syndicate your blog (RSS, Atom)
Use My Yahoo!, NewsGator, Feedster, Bloglines etc.
- Blog (write and publish)
- Ping (Technorati, Pings.ws, Pingomatic.com)

Nice Sher

Received this nice sher by sms.
Palkon main qaid kuch sapney hai
Kuch begaane, kuch apne hai
Na jaane kya kashish hai in khayalon main
Woh hamse duur hoke bhi
Kitne apne hai!

Beautiful! Thanks.

Friday, April 22, 2005

Google's First-Quarter Profit Increases Six-Fold to $369m

googleGoogle shows a six-fold increase in its first-quarter profit.

Google first-quarter (Jan to Mar) Profit
2005...$369m
2004...$64m

Google first-quarter (Jan to Mar) Revenue
2005...$1.26b
2004...$651.6m
"After subtracting commissions that Google paid to other Web sites in its advertising network, the company's first-quarter revenue was $794.5 million."

GOOG shares are up by 10% to $223.69 on Nasdaq (After Hours ECN)

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Thursday, April 21, 2005

Save your Searches with Google's 'My Search History'


What's New at Google?
Google My Search History (Beta)

Google's My Search History allows users to personalize their search experience. It allows users to save, search, track, and retrieve their searches.

Login with your GMail address and use Google My Search History to
- Save your searches to find them later on
- See the searches that you've made on Google
- View the results that you've clicked on
- Read about the results that you haven't clicked on
- Find the number of searches made daily
- Search for and retrieve older searches
- Find results within your personalized searches
- Check web pages that you'd searched for
- See your search history, the searches that you've made on Google

There's also an option to remove the searches that you've made from your search history list. You can also tell Google to pause indexing your search history.

Suggestion for Google:
Please allow users to categorize their My Search History.
For example, if I search for India Pakistan cricket, allow me to sort and categorize my results under a category for easy reference. This will increase the usability of My Search History.

There are no questions about privacy. One need not worry about it. Just as emails in your GMail mailbox reside on Google's server, the same applies to your personal search history. It is as safe as GMail. Plus there is an option to pause collection of search history and even remove the indexed searches. So there are no questions of privacy. If you are safe using GMail and any other email, you are as safe using Google My Search History. Give it a try. It is good.

I also like Yahoo!'s personalized search, mysearch.yahoo.com, which gives the option of categorizing search results. Google too should give an option of categorizing search results in My Search History.

Login with your GMail address and try Google's My Search History (Beta).

Technorati Tag: and


Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Yahoo! Surfs the Online Advertising Wave, Doubles First-Quarter Profit to $204m


Yahoo! doubles first-quarter profit.

Yahoo! powered by increase in online advertising doubled its first-quarter profit to $204m ($101m last year). Online (search) advertising accounted for 87% of Yahoo!'s first-quarter revenue.

"Advertising accounted for all but $149 million of Yahoo's revenue during the quarter."
2005 first-quarter revenue: $1.17b
2005 first-quarter advertising revenue: $1.02b

The potential of online advertising is tremendous. Once Yahoo! gets its Contextual Advertising experiments in place and starts competing with Google in the AdSense space it stands to gain even more.

I have been using Y!Q (Beta), Yahoo!'s contextual search for a month and I feel if Yahoo! provides web site owners a business model of using Y!Q on their sites and showing contextual ads (like Google AdSense) it will be a big hit as Y!Q results can be tailored 100% to the content on the page by using the input name="p" parameter. For example try the contextual search I've provided at the end of this post. It gives almost 100% matching results to the content of this post. Now if Yahoo! can show ads with these results it will give a big boost to their online advertising revenue.

Yahoo!'s contextual search (Y!Q) and related ads (if they plan to show) based on those results will be an innovative way of online contextual search advertising providing SMB web site owners a chance to display almost 100% related ads.

YHOO on NASDAQ

Technorati Tag: and


Google UK Goes Local

Google UK introduces local search. Find businesses and services in UK with Google UK Local search. Use Google Local UK. For example, find Punjabi Restaurants in Birmingham.

Google Maps UK.

- Google's link evaluation patent application. To read and understand.

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Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Bright Red Gulmohar

See and share photos on Flickr
From Jilmil's photo album on Flickr.
Reminds me of afternoon walks in Bangalore, under those bright red Gulmohar trees, from Bangalore TV Tower to JC Nagar. A beautiful pic. Lovely!

Unka dekhna bhi jannat hai
Hum to yunhi ghayal the, kya zaroorat thi muskraane ki!

She looks and it feels like heaven
I was wounded by her look, what was the need (for her) to smile!

Monday, April 18, 2005

New Look Yahoo! News

Yahoo! News gets a makeover. Explore the new look of Yahoo! News. Personalize Yahoo! News by adding/removing categories, changing the order of their appearance, and adding to My Yahoo!. Create a Yahoo! News alert and get news by email.

Suggestion:
For Yahoo! News search results please take the list of categories (News by category) to the top of the page.

Technorati Tag:

Cricket: India Pakistan Series Ends

Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive


Nothing has changed.
India lost the 6th and final one-day match and the cricket series by 4-2 to Pakistan.
Through the 90s and till early 2003 India was Sachin.
If Sachin went, India lost
.
Nothing has changed now, except that from 2004 India is Sehwag.
If Sehwag goes, India loses
.
That's what happened yesterday. Chasing 304 to win in 50 overs, India lost Sehwag early and as soon as Sehwag went, the procession of batsmen returning to the pavilion began.

Since April 2003, in the last two years, India has played 50 ODIs and won only 22 of them.

Weak in batting.
Sachin doesn't inspire the confidence of being a one-man army anymore. He cannot lead India to victory. It's good Ganguly is not in the team and shouldn't be. Rahul Dravid cannot be expected to smash the bowling-that's not his job, and Yuvraj and Kaif on most occasions in the recent past have not contributed enough with the bat, VVS Laxman is not even in the team, and Irfan Pathan from being India's answer for the perfect all-rounder has become a non-entity not able to merit a place in the team.

Weaker in bowling.
In the bowling department, Ashish Nehra takes wickets but always goes for more than 6 runs per over. Zaheer displays brilliance in patches. Spinners - Harbhajan, Kumble, and Karthik can't be expected to prosper on batsmen friendly pitches, Balaji gives lots of runs, Irfan is out-of-form and out of the team.

19th April: Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer praises Virender Sehwag.

Friday, April 15, 2005

Cricket: India v Pakistan: 5th ODI: Shahid Afridi smashes Second Fastest Century in ODIs


15th April 2005 Friday.
India v Pakistan - 5th ODI - Kanpur

Shahid Afridi goes berserk!

Shahid Afridi smashes India's bowling into submission. Shahid Afridi scored 102 runs off *just* 46 balls with 9 sixes (yes, you read it right, 9 sixes!!) and 10 fours. Pakistan are cruising to victory in the 5th ODI at Kanpur, chasing India's 250 to win in 50 overs, they are scoring at 7 runs per over and are 163 for 2 23 overs with Shahid Afridi out for 102 runs after scoring the fastest century by any player in the history of One Day Cricket versus India and the second-fastest century of all-time in the history of One Day International cricket. Shahid Afridi scored a trail-blazing trademark superfast century. His hundred coming off just 45 balls with 9 sixes and 10 fours. Shahid Afridi kamaal ka player hai. No dearth of amazing magical fireworks in batting with Shahid Afridi at the crease. Maan, I'm missing the action. Today's highlights are going to be a must-watch.

Brief Scores:
India...249/6 in 50 Overs
Pakistan...163/2 in 23 overs

Shahid Afridi 102 runs
(9 sixes, 10 fours, 46 balls, Magic!)

Players like Shahid Afridi and Virender Sehwag don't need coaching manuals and coaches. Set them free, unshackle them from the orthodox style of cricket, and let them show their magic on the cricket field. Why should a ball be played and get a wellplayed applause when it can always be hit for a thumping six! Well played Shahid! Congratulations!

Follow the match on Cricinfo.
List of fastest centuries in One Day Cricket. Shahid Afridi's name is on the top of the list and with this *awesome* batting performance his name will apear once again in the 2nd position.
Now Shahid Afridi holds the record for the fastest century (37-ball hundred scored in 1996) and joint (with Brian Lara) second-fastest hundred (today's century v India).

SMS CRI to 8243 for the latest Cricket score.

Read my March 1 post written on Shahid Afridi's 25th birthday.
The Joy of Shahid Afridi's Batting.

Update: Pakistan has won the 5th ODI by 5 wickets.
Read the complete scorecard of the 5th ODI played in Kanpur.

"For those 75 minutes today Shahid Afridi didn't play cricket he toyed with it (the bowling)." A nice read on Cricinfo that describes Shahid Afridi's record breaking innings.

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Upload Videos on Google

Google lets you upload amateur/home/professional videos with their Google Video Upload (Beta) program. Read the video upload instructions and share your videos with the world through Google Video.

Google Video Upload url: https://upload.video.google.com/
Requires a Google account. Use your GMail address to sign in.

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Thursday, April 14, 2005

To Read: Overture PPC

It drizzled for sometime this evening. I've opened a window. View from my third floor office room. Bank of Maharashtra's old building, the sound of two-wheelers on FC road, neem trees swaying in the breeze, the Anjor furniture hoarding looking bright after the rains, white on green signboards have had a makeover and look sharp and shiny with a rainwater wash. It's twilight the tip of eucalyptus trees touch the overcast sky, a cool breeze is blowing, wow, I can feel the wind on my face. This is cool. The wind on my face, work to do, and things to learn. I want this daily. Half-light, half-shade the evening turns to night.

Now to what I've got to read.

- Overture Advertiser Center

- Links to PDFs. To download and read.
Overture Advertiser Workbook

- Overture Tutorials

- Overture Listing Guidelines

- Overture FAQs

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

IceRocket Blog Search

Try the Blog search of IceRocket.com

Add your Blog to IceRocket's index of blogs.

Search for posts by author on BlogDigger and Feedster blog search engines.
For example, author:(chirayu) on BlogDigger.com


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Monday, April 11, 2005

Quote: If words were leaves...


Beautiful Quote on words and leaves

If words were leaves on an autumn forest floor
Oh what a bonfire mine would make

If words were drops of water
You'd drown if I said, I love you

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Hindi Lyrics: 'Agar Tum Mil Jao' from Zeher


Zeher Songs

Listen Online
- Listen online to songs from the film Zeher on Raaga.com

Download
- Download MP3 of Agar Tum Mil Jao and other songs from the film Zeher.
Check if this link works(?)
- Download real media player .rm files from this web page.

Lyrics of Agar Tum Mil Jao from Zeher.

Agar tum mil jao zamaana chhod denge hum
Tumhe paa kar zamane bhar se rishta tod denge hum
Agar tum mil jao zamaana chhod denge hum


Kasam teri kasam
Taqdeer ka rukh mod denge hum
Agar tum mil jao zamaana chhod denge hum...


Read the complete lyrics.

Nice one.
Main tasawwur bhi judai ka kaise karu
Maine kismat ki lakeeron se churaaya hai tumhe

How can I even imagine separation
After stealing you from the hands of destiny

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Saturday, April 09, 2005

Y!Q Search

Yahoo! Contextual Search and thoughts on related (contextual - AdSense type) text ads that may show up with Y!Q search results in the near future.

Hope Yahoo! has plans of adding Advertising Text links with Y!Q Search.

Y!Q can provide almost 100% relevant contextual ads with the 'p', and 'siteContext' features.

For example, I write a review on Dan Brown's latest novel and then in the input name of Y!Q Form I write input type="hidden" name="p" value="Books written by Dan Brown" and/or input type="hidden" name="siteContext" value="Dan Brown Book Reviews"

This will get an almost exact set of search results related to the context of the Web page, which in turn will generate more clickthroughs and benefits for Yahoo!, the advertiser, and the ad displayer.

Here's wishing the team at Yahoo! good luck in their experiments on Ads with Contextual Search.

All the best.

Regards,
Chirayu



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Friday, April 08, 2005

Google Q&A: You ask, Google answers

Google Q&A

You ask, Google answers!

Enter a question and get the answer on Google without visiting another Web page.
Try these searches on Google.com.

Geography
What is the capital of Canada?
What is the population of India?
Who is the Prime Minister of Peru?
Where is Cape Town?
What is the capital of New South Wales?

General Knowledge
What is Google?
What is a kaleidoscope?
What is a Haiku?
How many metres in yards?

Reading
Who is the author of The Alchemist?
Who is Dan Brown?

Entertainment
Who is the Director of Sin City?
When is the birthday of Diya Mirza?
Who is Sachin Tendulkar?

Try your own Q&A searches on Google. Use www.google.com not .co.in


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Thursday, April 07, 2005

What's New at Google?

With Google it's always 'Breaking News' in Search.
Make it fast. Make it simple. Make it work.

- Google to experiment with Video Blogging.

- Google reduces price and increases capacity of its Mini search appliance for small and medium businesses.

- Google adds Satellite images to Google Maps. Select the Satellite link on the top right corner of Google Maps.

Take a tour of Google Maps.

- Google shows multilingual results for definitions search.
For example, define:CSS

- Google RideFinder (http://labs.google.com/ridefinder) finds taxi and shuttle locations in select US cities.



I'm experimenting with Yahoo!'s contextual search.
The above link that shows More Google News is from Yahoo!'s site specific contextual search.


<!-- ***** Start Y!Q Site Specific Search Input ***** -->
<input type="hidden" name="siteRestriction" value="news.google.com news.yahoo.com www.battellemedia.com www.searchenginejournal.com www.searchenginewatch.com">
<!-- ***** End Y!Q Site Specific Search Input ***** -->


Add Yahoo! Contextual Search on your Web page.

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Tuesday, April 05, 2005

View Google and Yahoo! Search Results on the Same Page

Search for and view Google and Yahoo! Web search results on the same page with YaGoohoo!gle

To experiment with Phil Bradley's finding information with different search engines and their which search engine to use when. I like the positive things he has mentioned about Exalead. Exalead gives good search results.

Cricket: 2nd ODI - India Scores in Fifth Gear - 356/9 in 50 Overs

Virender Sehwag gave a blistering start to India scoring at more than 9 runs per over and then Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's new wicketkeeper playing in only his fifth one day international, promoted to number three in place of an out of form Ganguly, played the innings of his life scoring 148 runs from 123 balls with 15 fours and 4 sixes with Virender Sehwag (74 runs 40 balls 12 fours 2 sixes) and then Rahul Dravid (52 runs 59 balls 3 fours) for company as India reached a mammoth score of 356 runs in their 50 overs.

Scores.
India... 356 for 9 in 50 overs
Pakistan... 34/1 in 5 overs

Update: India beat Pakistan by 58 runs in the 2nd One Day International match played at Vishakhapatnam today. Pakistan were all out for 298 runs in reply to India's massive score of 356 in 50 overs. Shahid Afridi went for a duck, Inzamam was run out for 16 and the chase was too steep for them. India's new wicket keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the Man of the Match award for his scintillating knock of 148 runs, becoming only the 2nd Indian wicketkeeper after Rahul Dravid to score a century in ODIs.

Brief Scores. 2nd One Day match. Vishakhapatnam.
India...356/9 in 50 overs
Pakistan...298 all out in 44 overs

Read more on Cricinfo.

SMS CRI to 8243 to receive the latest cricket scores on your cell phone.

Google Site search results for
India Pakistan Cricket Scores site:chirayu.blogspot.com



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GMail storage keeps on increasing

GMail storage keeps on increasing. It is 2060 MB now. More Gmail space, more emails, more ads, more clicks, more money for Google. What percentage of Google's revenue comes through Internet advertising? I suppose, more than 90%. Good one Google and I like the ads that they show in GMail messages. On most occasions the ads are relevant.

Google AdSense Tips.

Pepsi's New TV Ad Sucks

Dumbing down of Television Ads

Pepsi's recent television ad, 'Oye Bubbly' is cheap, vulgar, senseless, and a piece of crappy advertising.

Cons of Pepsi's new ad
- No creativity (Putting together babes showing their bare midriffs is a remix video strategy)
- Bad taste (Showing girls' navels as lips looks cheap not cool)
- Bad marketing (The amount they'd have paid to superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan)
- Softdrinks are not cool. Google is.

Pros
- Kids will like the ad
- Funky animation
- Amitabh Bachchan's voice (Why did he do this ad?)

Friday, April 01, 2005

Google's Gmail Birthday Gift: 2 GB of Storage Space for Everyone

Google's Infinity+1 storage plan on Gmail's first birthday doubles Gmail storage space.

"To celebrate our one-year birthday, we're giving everyone one more gigabyte."

Read the second point before logging in to your Gmail account.
The gift that keeps on giving.
1124.671474 megabytes of storage (and counting) for every user.
The count will keep on increasing till 2000.00 MB

That's a nice, cool, and unique way of making people happy.
Congratulations, Google!

Now if you have 50 Gmail invites, send all those to yourself and you've got a 100 GB Harddisk accessible from anywhere in Cyberspace.

Do things the Google way! Gmail's 2 GB of storage space, rich text formatting, message conversations, filters, message search, labels, search operators, any browser compatibility, and much more. I haven't used any other email since last April.

Write, store, save, label, filter, sort, and search with Gmail, Google's web-based email service now with two gigabytes of storage space.

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Gmail Rich Text Formatting

What's New at Gmail?
Gmail Rich Text Formatting.
Gmail Rich Text Formatting

Sign in to Add your Web site to Yahoo!

Add your Web site to Google

Is Gmail going to offer 2 GB of storage space from 1st April 2005?
Update: Gmail doubles storage space.

Fun with Google
Compare number of Google search results with GoogleFight, GoogleDuel, and GoogleBattle.

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Search for everything related to April Fool's Day with Google April Fools Search

See Flickr Images and Find Related Tags

View images from the photo-sharing web site Flickr and find related Flickr tags with the Flickr Related Tag Browser. (Requires Macromedia Flash)

- Enter a Flickr Tag in the search box. For example, Nature
- Find Flickr images from that tag.
- Click on a thumbnail to enlarge.
- Get tags similar to the entered tag.

Technorati Tag: Photos