TIME's 50 Best Websites for 2008

This is my next post, a sequel to the last one. Every year, or rather I should say, everyday, so many new websites come into existence in cyberspace. Some survive, some don't. Out of the few which survive, a handful are considered to be the best in some aspect. And it's not just about the site design, cool flashy looks, those catchy flash applications etc., it is about their content and its usefulness to its audience. And then, not everyone is able to see all those useful websites. This is where TIME's 50 Best Websites for 2008 comes handy.

I suggest you to go over this list and I am sure you will some new useful website, which you haven't heard of. There were some in this list, which were a pleasant surprise for me. After all, there is only a limited I spend online everyday (Those who know me know that I am kidding).

No.1 on the list is GasBuddy. Even though MapQuest was first to bring Gas Prices link on their website, GasBuddy scored over them by bringing a more comprehensive and real-time update of prices, updated by their users.

Below are my favorites from this list:

2. Howcast: A video how-to site with a Wiki section for users to contribute.
6. Tripkick: Get inside information of various hotels. Which rooms are best, have best views, and which ones to be avoided. Now, you can make a specific booking request while making hotel reservations.
7. WikiTravel: Tradition of Wiki continues with best, concise up-to-date travel & tourist information.
10.Afrigadget:"a site dedicated to simple, sustainable inventions in Africa" per TIME.
16. RateMyProfessors: Yes, now students can anonymously rate their professors.
20.MapJack: A fantastic alternative to Google Maps. High-res photos of cities and very easy to
navigate.

TIME's Best Inventions of 2008

It is that time of year again. The end of the year, when you start seeing those lists, such as, best inventions, best websites, best moments, best pictures etc. And I am always waiting for these lists. No matter how much I read articles, blogs, books, etc. I am always surprised to see the new items in these lists.

This time, the surprising items were in the list: TIME's Best Inventions of 2008. Click here to see the list. Here is a preview of the list:

1. Peek Email Device
2. T-Mobile G1
3. MacBook
4. iPod Touch
5. Eye-Fi SD Card.

G1 certainly came as a surprise to me. Maybe, mainly because I am a loyal iPhone user. Actually, when I started using iPhone, I was amazed at the device's capabilities and functions. Maybe G1 has something in it to make it to this list.

My favorite was the No.5. A SD card capable of uploading your pictures directly online to any photo service? A SD Card which directly beam images to your hard-drive? A SD card which can geo-tag the pictures, right where they ar taken. Come on!!! you must be kidding me.

But then, this is purely an invention. And the bsuiness apportunity is huge here. Think about all those camera owners, who don't to buy a new camera equipped with bluetooth or wi-fi, but still want all these features. I am such a photographer and I'd love to have this card..asap!

Some Alternate Uses of a Smartphone

Yesterday I read this article on Yahoo! Travel about some uses for a SmartPhone/PDAs etc, which I was not aware of. These are some of those few applications which are useful for travelers or rather people on-the-go. Apart from checking email, web browsing, watching PowerPoint presentations, these smart devices can be used for following purposes too:

• Checking the wait time at airport security lines.
• Alerts about changes in flight itinerary.
• Getting weather reports.
• Checking local time in any time zone.

To know exactly, how to do so, check the following article:

If your CrackBerry Was Addictive Before...

Search Wiki: Challenging Google!!!

In present day, challenging Google in search technology do require real guts. Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia is already working on it. He is on his way of making a vast search engine on the lines of his creation Wikipedia (see here for Wikipedia in Wikipedia), which has already established itself as a very commonly used and referred encyclopedia. In founder's own words Search Wikia is "the search engine that changes everything.... Just as Wikipedia revolutionized how we think about knowledge and the encyclopedia, we have a chance now to revolutionize how we think about search."

I recently came across a cover story on Search Wiki in the March 2007 issue of Fast Company. Click here to see the complete article. The whole idea behind this new search engine is really interesting and a very challenging indeed. Human contributed search results would certainly result in more meaningful results, but how fast? Is it really possible to compete with the machine generated results? The statistics in this article to show the level of satisfaction with current search engines is also interesting:

"In a blind study by the French linguistics scholar Jean Véronis and his students, Google and Yahoo tied for user satisfaction with their results, both scoring an embarrassing 2.3 out of a possible 5. About 28% of the time, users thought that all the search results they received from both engines were "totally useless." They gave fairly low marks of 2.8 and 2.9 even to the very first links listed by Yahoo and Google, respectively. About a quarter of the time, they didn't find what they considered to be even one good result from either search engine."

I am not sure about the details of this study like what was the sample of people to collect the responses, the demographics, geographical location etc., but finding the relevant and desired results from any search first time is really rare for me. In fact, I have earlier compared various search engines like Yahoo, Google, Clusty etc and it seems that there is still lot of scope for improvement in search algorithms.

Good Luck to Search Wikia for their endeavor. There are people willing to contribute and work for this project and I hope this competition will make life easier for search users like me.

Starving the People To Feed the Cars

Recently I read this interesting article in Washington Post about the upcoming ethanol distilleries and biodiesel refineries to convert the edible oil to fuel. The problems which this civilization on-the-whole can face because of this technological innovation is really big and scary. Read the article and see yourself.


Starving the People To Feed the Cars

By Lester R. Brown

Sunday, September 10, 2006; Page B03

High oil prices are much more than just a drain on drivers' pocketbooks or a sign of tough economic times ahead; they could also prove to be a leading indicator of the unraveling of our global civilization.

That may sound unlikely, or melodramatic. But consider this: Now, almost everything we eat can be converted into automotive fuel. And once the price of oil surpassed $60 a barrel last year, the business of transforming wheat, corn, soybeans and sugarcane into fuel for cars instead of food for people became hugely profitable. As crops that have long sustained us are diverted to provide fuel, we may encounter the same fate that brought down great civilizations of the past.

Click here for complete article.

Wikipedia vs. Encyclopaedia Britannica

If you are a passionate internet user (which probably you are, if you are reading blogs), then you must be aware of Wikipedia and Encyclopaedia Britannica. Wikipedia is an open-source encyclopaedia, created and edited by its users (meaning anyone who has an internet connected computer) whereas Britannica is the copyright protected encyclopaedia written and edited by some selected stalwarts.

Comparing these two, Wikipedia could be aptly labeled as democratic (of the people, for the people, by the people) and Britannica is definitely capitalistic (by selected few, for the privileged few). So, now keeping this in mind, which one is supposed to be error-free? Here are the interesting results of a study done by Nature (taken from this article):

In the midst of all this controversy, Nature published the results of an analysis of a broad range of entries from the websites of Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica which shows a different picture. Even so, the results were impressive. After looking at 42 articles, according to Nature, “only eight serious errors, such as misinterpretations of important concepts, were detected in the pairs of articles reviewed, four from each encyclopedia”.
"But reviewers also found many factual errors, omissions or misleading statements: 162 and 123 in Wikipedia and Britannica, respectively."

One problem is that this Wikipedia is vulnerable to is vandalism. (Remember the saying, Too many chefs spoil the dish?) Some noted instances are reported in this article. But one thing is for sure, that Wikipedia has revolutionized the way of sharing the information on internet. “Wiki” (Hawaiian for "unpaid labor") is now the term used for anything open-source and edited by anyone.

One thing I observed is that Wikipedia do has an updated entry for Britannica, but Britannica Online returns “No results found for Wikipedia”. Anyone from the Britannica’s editorial board reading this?


f you haven't tried Wiki yet for digging some piece of information, check it out.

Disclaimer: This post reflects solely the views of the author and has no relation paid or forced with Wikipedia.

Forbes 40 richest Indians

Forbes 4o richest Indians in the world list has been released and is quite exclusive. It gave a great sense of pride while reading that lists and the achievements of the people featured there. The article can be accessed here and the ranking is here. The details of each person's business can be seen by clicking on his name. This list spans all the major sectors business including steel, software, telecom, pharmaceuticals, energy, textiles, real estate etc. Here is a snapshot and an excerpt:

"FORBES ASIA's second annual list of the 40 richest Indians is quite a bit more exclusive this year. Folks needed a net worth of at least $590 million, up from $305 million last year, to make the cut. Twenty-seven members are billionaires, more than double last year's count. The group's collective net worth soared to $106billion, up from $61 billion; by contrast, China's 40 richest are worth a collective $26 billion."

I personally admire the spirit of entrepreneurship which has been driving the human civilization and society's development. Hats off to all of them.

Men's Brain: 10 Mysteries Revealed

Check out this article from today's MSN Health and Fitness, titled as "10 mysteries of the mind revealed". An interesting read, this article will tell some answers of following mysteries about our mind:

1. How a memory is made ?
2. How alcohol affects your memory ?
3. Why you can't remember being born ?
4. How memory stacks up to an iMac ?
5. How testosterone can help you remember ?
6. What amnesia is all about ?
7. Why you never forget how to ride a bike ?
8. Why hypnotism works—sometimes ?
9. Why you lose your keys ?
10. How to preserve your memory ?

Most interesting is the answer to Question No.2 :- "When you encode memories while in a specific state, like being drunk, you're more likely to remember them when you're again in that state," says Jonathan Schooler, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia.

So, if you got drunk and did something which you dont remember, then get drunk again and try to remember. So, next time, when you plan to get drunk, you have got a good reason to do so. Ok, time is up, I dont remember what I did yesterday evening..lemme get back to my beer. :)

About Space in Relationships

A friend of mine from blogosphere, Komal Mehta, has done a very good article for a popular Indian portal rediff.com. You can post your comments on her blog. This article is focussed on the importance of "personal space in relationships", which is really very-very important. Being in a relationship doesn't mean that one has to loose his/her personal identity and get blended into the others. Whether in a relationship or not, I want my personal space and freedom to do what my original-self want to do. And that is the bottom-line..no compromises on this !

So now read this article and I am sure you gonna enjoy it.

War Against Bloggers

A serious incident has recently grabbed international attention amongst bloggers. A private MBA institue in India has started harrassing eminent and well known Indian bloggers, Rashmi Bansal and Gaurav Sabnis for their posts. Rashmi Bansal has done a serious attempt to expose the false claims made by this institute in her monthly youth magazine JAM. Gaurav Sabnis has posted to bring out the fine prints in the tall claims made by this institute. I wont even write the name of this institute or post any of its link. They have served legal notices to these two people and Varna alleging that these guys are defaming their prestigious institute (another false claim). Within a few days, lots of fake blogs have come up with only one post against Rashmi and Gaurav. Gaurav Sabnis has resigned from his job. For a detailed and regularly updated post on this war between a rogue institute using its money and influence and eminent bloggers using their faith in freedom of speech, please go to DesiPundit and support the bloggers.

Dragon vs. Elephant

Since last few years, lot of speculations have been made between the two growing economies of world, India and China, mostly symbolised as Elephant and Dragon respectively. Surveys and studies by eminet economists, thinkers and consultants all over the world have been featured on this topic. Check out his special issue of Business Week:

China and India
What you need to know now

This is an interesting read with articles featuring on different aspects of the two countries. It discusses the pros & cons of each country in terms of culture, economics, growth and prospects. Some interesting slide-shows are also there. So Check it Out !!!

For Inspiration

Some good success stories for thou inspiration:

ICICI Bank: Closing in on world's 200 biggest banks

Infosys & Narayan Murthy's dream for the future

Dos & Donts for Desis@USA

Well,here is a very sensible ans useful article from The Hindu. Its about the DOs and DONTs for Desis flocking to US..known as FOBs. There are really some issues which one has to take care of, especially in US like personal cleanliness, colloquial language etc. Read this article and tell others about it.

Beyond the Blue

thanx to buddy Rahul Jindal (ZombieWorld Sinusoid) for this link.

Unemployed Master

The title itself is self-explanatory....the viewpoint of a person who is Unemployed after a Master's. This is the situation I am in right now. Its very dark all around and there is only one ray of light I can see. The usual instinct would be to follow that ray and move to the bright side of the world. But I will not do that. Because that ray of light will take me to the restroom. The reason its dark around me is because roommate is sleeping and he wont let me switch on the lights. However, restroom lights are left turned on at night. Well, for the uninitiated ones, it was a joke.

Without digressing much, lets come back to the point. While composing this post, I came across another similar post (by Meghna) and liked it. Its about someone in similar situation :

Thoughts.....my take on certain issues: Snapshot of the unemployed and still looking

As per this post, right now I am going through the stage of "self-doubt". This comes after applying to almost all the relevant positions, tailoring resumes to suit the "job description", modifying projects etc. I have observed how the tone of my coverletter has changed from "polite" to "aggressive", how my resume has been gradually polished to give a real "pro look", how it shrunk in size from 2 page to 1 page to contain the keywords and crux.

I am analyzing why my resume has not been able to generate enough interest among employers as I expected. The main reason I feel is my location. For core engineering jobs pertaining to manufacturing & production, its better if you ar located close to the industrial region/belt. Well..then I am 'far from the madding crowd' in deep south. Another obvious reason is "Visa sponsorship & security clearence" and "Lack of experience".

Well lets see, what happens next. For one thing, I am sure, that my quest for a job would be better than Ana Kournikova's quest for singles title. I will get at least one.