Virial Theorem

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Google Reader which got me intrigued. However I remained firm in my decision to refrain from using Web-based Feed Readers. Then an article on Lifehacker (which for some reason I only recently read) got me interested in Google Reader. So I decided to give it a try and I must say I’m pleasantly surprised.

Combined with Google Gears, I can access my feeds offline for those, seemingly more frequent, offline moments. Google Reader has a folder system similar (for me) to their label system in Gmail, which I love. And with true Google genius it has a ‘trend’ section which tracks which feeds I access the most, which get updated the most, etc. I also have the option to share my feeds or a specific article with other people and can access Google Reader via a cellphone. In short, there are a lot of really interesting things in Google Reader that need to be checked out by anyone who uses syndication feeds on a daily basis.

I don’t think I’ll leave RSSOwl just yet. I’m still not very sure about the whole web-based news aggregators. If Google offered the option of a desktop-based app for Google Reader then I would be over it instantly but that is, unfortunately, not the case as of yet.

Just my 2 cents on Google Reader.

Recently, I’ve made a Picasa Web Album account to store and share some of my pictures. I decided to abstain from using flickr because signing up was a major pain in the ass. Creating an account at Yahoo is a lot more complicated and takes more time than I last remember. Also I can’t seem to figure out how to use an email other than the yahoo id assigned to me.

Well, so here’s my album. I uploaded the photos I had taken from a recent visit to Vancouver. Enjoy!

Apparently, with Google now offering paid storage upgrades there has been a flood of email scams being sent to people. Their have been many different types of scams, from really pathetic ones such as this one to more professionally produced ones like the one shown at 5thirtyone.

The sad thing is that people actually fall for these. I realize that sometimes it may be hard to tell whether it’s the real thing or not but there are always signs that point to it’s legitimacy. For one thing, I cannot remember a time when Google ever used a domain name other than http://google.com (and select other top-level domains). Other signs include asking for your username and password from within the email and the entire giving away 100 GB of storage and a domain name for free.

So next time you come across something that would seem like a scam, any type of scam, use your heads. If, even after going through the ‘invitations’ with a fine comb brush doesn’t turn up anything then at least do an internet search for this. I’m sure you’ll discover if it’s legit or not without one day realizing that you’re unable to log in to your account.

[Ars Technica: Gmail driving Google Apps adoption at college]

The Ars article got me thinking about their web-based application suite. Google, the soon to be masters of earth, have not appealed to the public with parts of their application suite. Aside from Google Search, Google Ads, and Gmail, most of Google’s other products aren’t doing so well.

Reading the article didn’t surprise me since I myself only use Google Search, Google Calendar, and Gmail. The only reason I have ever used Google Docs is because of the it’s collaboration feature. Although I don’t use any… bundles it doesn’t surprise me that Gmail is the main reason for the ’success’ of the app suite.

It’s going to take more than creating a web-based application and slapping their name on it for them to succeed. There needs to be some innovation on Google’s part for their app suite to succeed.

After muling it over a little, I couldn’t help but think ‘no shit’.