Digging Deeper into Squidoo

I gave the Squidoo concept ( it is still a concept to me as I haven’t seen the application) some more thought. This is a sequel to yesterday’s post - Squidoo. A lens or a mirage. And just to clear the air, I respect Seth Godin a lot. I want to support Squidoo but there are still some unanswered questions bothering me..

1. I still don’t get one thing. why wouldn’t people use Wikipedia for expert opinion on a subject. Wikipedia offers an unbiased view on a topic.

2. LensRank - This concept completely loses me. Isn’t this analogical to PageRank? So how would it ensure that the “best lens” on a topic isn’t necessarily by a person who has the most connections? And this person might not even be close to an expert.
The networked people …
And if it is not expert opinion, then why Squidoo, why not Google?

3. What I would also like to know is if there is a master list of categories such as Advertising, Books, Photography under which you can create a lens. You can damn well guess what would happen if there isn’t one?

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Secret Corner on the Web

There are times when you feel like punching the nose of someone (for the record I was never violent) or swearing out loud or blog about it with an identity. But one cannot do these for obvious reasons like keeping the job, out of courtesy etc. Some people take out their frustrations by writing on a piece of paper and when they are totally satisfied with the outcome, feel relaxed and get back to normalcy!

I discovered one such site called iWorkWithFools this morning. It is slightly similar in concept to the famous/infamous blog Post Secret but not as picturesque as it. This site has people anonymously describing their experiences at work with tough/dumb/moron (or as the site calls “fools” that I disagree with) peers, subordinates and bosses. I read a few posts and then said to myself “Vivek is right. I’m insane to be reading this and poop stories. I definitely have better things to do in life.” I hate to agree but some experiences were what some of us encounter in our everyday work life too but gossip about only in private! So much of animosity, hatred is demotivating to read!

July 30th 2004 - International Sys Admin Day

Today is the 5th annual Sys Admin Day. I agree with this…

A special day, once a year, to acknowledge the worthiness and appreciation of the person occupying the role, especially as it is often this person who really keeps the wheels of your company turning.
What good is an application if the systems don’t have a good uptime?

Its no secret that developers and sys admins are always at loggerheads. They just can’t see in the same direction though their objectives are the same - to keep the system/application up and running. I’m a developer and I have had a fair share of my differences with sys admins. But we’ve got past it and sometimes a lil empathising and compromise can work wonders and result in a good working relationship (the underlying truth is it iss a symbiotic relationship between the developers and sysadmins).

Lets face the facts. Sysadmins are required to be at the server’s ‘beck and call’ :( - be it any time of the day or night. Its a privilege the rest of us have that they don’t. I value my sleep so much and that is one reason I’m really appreciative of my sysadmins’ effort and the nightless sleeps they go through. I wonder if there is a International Developer’s Day!

via Joi via Boing Boing

I’ve posted an update to my earlier post “Connected, Distributed Work” as it elicited comments on Many to Many

GMail Features

Vote for the Most Wanted Gmail Features. I was composing a mail last Sunday on Gmail and decided to send it later. That is when I found out that there is no “Save as a draft” feature. I’m happy to see that it is top on this list.

–link via Google Blogoscoped

Blogger is continuously evolving into a good product. The new keyboard shortcuts for composing posts is neat.

Yahoo! Mail

Mail wars have just begun. Anyone who logged into Yahoo! Mail this morning was in for a surprise. Yahoo! has upgraded its mail features with a cool user interface and 100 MB of storage. I don’t see a reason why someone would now give up their already 3-5 year old Yahoo! Mail Id. I’m wondering if Yahoo! would consider giving 1GB storage to compete with Gmail. I really like this move of Yahoo! - clean sweepstake. Yahoo! has an edge over Google of not being shrouded by controversies such as breaching privacy.

Random Thoughts

I’m really impressed with the transition that Blogger has gone through. The user interface for editing/managing posts and creating a blog has got a huge facelift that it has no resemblance to its earlier version. Good work!

I was surprised to see what a Gmail account is worth. Read this article. Blogger invites active bloggers to sign up and that’s how I got mine. I created mine about a month back and had forgotten about it until I read the controversy surrounding privacy invasion and how ads relevant to the keywords in one’s mail are displayed in Gmail. There’s something about Google that keeps it in the limelight constantly. Check this one on search for the term “Jew” and Google’s explanation of the same.

Today was another tough day. The nightmarish pattern for Thursday’s continues…Dad left today for a brief trip to the West Coast. I don’t know how I will react when he leaves on Tuesday from here. It will be sad and it is further sad that I’m not so open as I would like to be. I wish I could just tell him that having him here was fun and it will be disheartening to see him leave. I should start conversing better with real people than with computers.