Them – Part 1

February 27th, 2007 § 16 comments § permalink

———
He gazed long and deep into her eyes… She leaned on to him and planted a little peck on his lips. It was her way of saying, ‘There, satisfied now?’ He liked that.
———

She came over to him. His heart was doing a thousand already. When she spoke, it went out of control. He could barely hear her words with his heart booming. For a brief instant he wondered whether she could hear it.

She was saying something, but the words wouldn’t register. He was so engrossed in looking at her that he forgot that he was supposed to hear and answer – as is wont in a conversation.

” … you coming?”, he snapped back to reality just in time to catch the last few words.

“Sorry? I wasn’t listening…”

“I said, we – that is I, Sam and Anita – are going for a movie in the evening, and I was wondering, if you aren’t doing anything, then maybe you would like to join us…”

He couldn’t believe it! Neither his ears nor his luck! She was asking him out? But …

» Read the rest of this entry «

Read the Feeds!

February 26th, 2007 § 8 comments § permalink

[level: absolute layman]

So you’ve got yourself a feed-reader, eh? And you have no clue how to go about it? Well, let’s work this through step-by-step, through simple questions and answers:

1. What is RSS?

RSS stands for Rich Site Summary. Take each word on its own. Rich – Lots of information. Site – your web site :) Summary – smaller understandable chunks. Put them together and you get, straightaway:

“Lots of Information (from) your web site (put into) smaller understandable chunks.”

RSS also stands for Really Simple Syndication. To understand this seemingly difficult term, consider only the word syndication. Syndication means sharing or publication of material/resources into an extended network. The concept arose from cartoonists, writers and such newspaper related people ‘syndicating’ their content for different publications.

RSS is the online method of sharing/syndicating content created by us. It is an efficient distribution system, that allows you to ‘pull’ content , instead of ‘pushing’ it like email, for example. The flexibility of XML allows better content management and allows developers to play with the feeds in more ways than you can imagine.

Geeks, head over to Wikipedia’s RSS page, and BBC’s RSS page.

2. What are Feed Readers or RSS Readers?

Ok, now we have lots of information pulled from your site. The question is what do we do with it?

The immediate answer would be read! And that is exactly what feed readers do. Read your feed. Rather, they allow you to read the feed.

A feed reader the XML equivalent of a browser. A regular browser reads HTML code and displays the information between the HTML tags, as per the formatting defined in the tags. Feed readers read XML information and display the content between XML tags.

This explanation over-simplifies the RSS/XML concept, but is good enough for understanding purposes, I think.

3. How do I use a Feed Reader (RSS Reader)

Like a browser!

The URL/Location/Address bar of a browser allows you to navigate to a site. Similarly, you point the feed-reader to an RSS feed published by a site. Usaully feeds are publisehed in .xml format, but with user-friendly software like Feed Blitz or FeedBurner (I use this for my site) the feed address can be a lot simple to remember.

Here’s the process to add a blog/website feed into your reader:

  1. Look for a link/button called “Add feed“. An input box asking for the feed address will appear.

  2. Enter the feed address in this input box. For example, the feed address for this blog is:

    http://feeds.feedburner.com/42quirks

  3. The reader will then fetch the contents of the feed (article, individual posts, etc.) and allow you to read the contents online or offline, based on the kind of reader (Web-based or Desktop-based) that you are using.

You’re done!

4. Ok, so I’ve added a feed. What next?

Well, nothing actually.

That’s the beauty of it. With a feed reader, you no longer have to visit the blog for updates all the time. Every time a new post is published, it appears in your feed reader automatically. You can simply read the updated feed (i.e new posts) from inside the reader. You only need to visit the blog if you want to leave a comment.*

You can also chunk your feeds together in logical groups for better reading experience. For instance, some of the categories I user are as generic as ‘humor’, ‘tech-blogs’, ‘poetry’ etc. or quite personal like ‘blogs-of-friends’. You have the liberty to name yours the way you want.

Such chunking is permitted by all readers, though each reader names it differently. Some call it folders, others call it categories, yet others call it channels. The essence of all these terms remains the same – a user-created logical chunk of feeds.

5. What if I can’t connect to the Internet all the time?

Work Offline!

No, I am not kidding. There are desktop-based feed readers, too.A desktop-based reader is a program that runs from your system and polls the internet for feeds whenever you connect to the internet. Akin to an email client, these feed readers connect online and (literally) download entire updated feeds to your local machine.

Those of you who use Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express or Thunderbird at work, might know what I am talking about. The workings of a web-based and desktop-based feed readers are the same as web-based and desktop-based email clients. So you are not entirely on unfamiliar territory there.

6. Which RSS Reader should I go for?

There are lot of arguments across the web regarding this one. I personally prefer web-based readers, since I work on different machines at home and work. A web-based reader allows me to keep a track of my feeds in these circumstances, just as a web-based email client.

Among web-based readers, I find Google Reader the best. With a wide array of keyboard shortcuts and the amazing speed that we have come to know and expect from Google, Google Reader beats everything hands-down, IMHO. Rojo and Bloglines come a close second.

Among Desktop-based readers, I haven’t tried many of them, but among those that I tried, Blogbridge (Java-based) and RSS Bandit (.NET based) are a good try. Attensa was interesting, but it crashed my Outlook once too often and out it went.

7. Questions?

Post your questions in the comments section. I think we can have a good FAQ setup here!

Cheers!

*Many publishers have an issue with RSS for this reason. Since most of the sites run on Ad revenue, publishing a feed means losing out on crucial page visits, and hence Ad revenue. Will Feed-vertising be the answer to all this?

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Quirky Notes…

February 14th, 2007 § 10 comments § permalink

Anybody know what’s special about today?

Yeah, a Wednesday, but not just any wednesday, Today also happens to be the International Quirkyalone Day!

Erm, ohh, and yes, also St. Valentine’s day…

Sasha Cagen the author of “Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics” conceptualised a personality type termed a Quirkyalone. In Sasha’s words:

Quirkyalones are people who resist the tyranny of coupledom. Oddly enough, we quirkyalones also tend to be romantics.

Odd, eh? Well, read on, there’s more!!

Quirkyalones (QAs, henceforth) are not anti-love or anti dating, they are basically normal people who ‘resist the tyranny of coupledom.’ A QA generally enjoys solitude and sometimes even craves it. But that does NOT mean a QA is a loner. In fact, its just the opposite. Having spent so much time in social company, QAs need time to ingest, introspect and recharge for the next round of interactions.

If you think this thing is a one-off occurence, think again. This is a movement that has spawned an entire breed of Quirkyalones, and what do you know, it will be four years strong this year. The IQD (International Quirkyalone Day) has been celebrated with much fan-fare across different parts of the world.

Head over to Quirkyalone, for more details. Some of you might even want to try this quiz:

How Quirkyalone are you?

Here’s what I got:

Your score was 117. Very quirkyalone:
Relatives may give you quizzical looks, and so may friends, but you know in your heart of hearts that you are following your inner voice. Though you may not be romancing a single person, you are romancing the world. Celebrate your freedom on National Quirkyalone Day, February 14th!

w00t!! I am lovin’ it!! [:D]

Do let me know how yours turns out. Post your score in the comments section. Happy Quirkyalone Day!!

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A Web 2.0 Crash Course

February 12th, 2007 § 4 comments § permalink

I have written a couple of posts about Web 2.0, early on in my blog.

I’ve had various conversations revolving around this concept across the years. A comment I wrote on the 9rules community was the best explanation I could generate for such an abstract concept.

To many people out there, Web 2.0 is just a buzz-word. For quite a few, it is about AJAX and flashy effects on website. And very few really understand what it means.

The other day, one of my friends directed me to a YouTube video titled “Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us.” And suddenly, a few more pieces of the jigsaw fell into place.

The title was intriguing enough. :) Go watch it yourself…

Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us.

I will not embed the video here, because I have already had spats with my hosting providers for ‘streaming’ content from my site. But I do urge you people to check out the video. It is one of the simplest, best and most explanatory videos I have ever seen.

And what’s more, it’s Web 2.0!

Things.

February 10th, 2007 § 28 comments § permalink

“Things make a difference.

Especially when you are not aware of them. Those that you are aware of hit you hard. Those that you aren’t hit you harder. You still recover – or manage just about to. But the ones that hurt you the most are the ones you have no clue about, no control over. They just come and hit you – out of nowhere.

It’s your duty to look out for them – or is it?”

- Written in a state of drunkenness, three beers and one large vodka down during the Mirchi Party. The writing is legible, although not one to win any awards anytime soon…

The Mirchi Party happened at Leather Lounge, M.G. Road on Wednesday the 7th. The Pune Office cleared all Sales targets, in fact overshot them. And so we celebrated. Mad music, madder dancing.

I can’t remember for the life of me, when or why I wrote the above. I found it in the morning in my pocket.

Oh, and by the way, this dude is now *officially* an RJ. Hmmm.

The Abyss

February 9th, 2007 § 8 comments § permalink

As he unlocked the doors to his room (yeah, can’t call it a home, yet…) all his loneliness seemed to creep out of the darkness. He entered the room, locking the door behind him.

The darkness comforted him like an ally, a friend. He removed his shoes, undressed and sat down for a few moments, bare, almost naked. The floor was cold, especially during the winters. Each contact with the skin sent miniature electric shocks down the spine. Yet, it all seemed comforting, almost surreal. The cold tried to fight with his skin for a few moments. Then, the treacherous swine that it was, it did a one-eighty and bonded with his skin, comforting it, soothing it, lulling it to sleep.

And then the explosions began, one-by-one.

First came Frustration, which seeped in, throwing all senses into disarray. Then, Irritation and Anger mounted a combined attack, scattering all the vestiges of hope. Third came Cowardice, with its big mace, which it used to smash all notions of bravado and valor. Finally, Helplessness struck, filling in the gaps left behind by its allies. When it was all over, Desperation stood over the ruins surveying the conquered remnants of a broken soul.

Each blow took away a little more than the previous one. The brain began closing all its functions one-by-one.

Save one.

From the beginning till the end, He kept hearing a laugh, that of a small child. It seemed to come from a distance. It neither grew louder, nor did it fade. It stayed where it was, beckoning him to come closer, inviting him tantalizingly, slowly driving him mad. It was the same every time, somewhere between a giggle and a chuckle, just short of being a full-throated laugh, like one of those baby videos, or ring-tones that one comes across occasionally. It dared him to come and explore, to search for it. He stretched out an arm hoping to catch it, and yet, fully knowing that he would never reach it.

And then he found himself lying on the cold, hard floor.

Oddly enough, he never shed a single tear. Maybe because of a false mojo, or maybe because he had grown accustomed to it. No, the latter can’t be true. He had NEVER shed a single tear, ever. He wondered why?

He got up and poured himself a glass of cold water. And shoved it down his throat. He wiped off the imaginary beads of sweat on his forehead, and sat at the edge of his bed. The exhaustion took its toll and he dropped back on the bed.

Lying on his back, watching the ceiling fan rotate slowly, He was suddenly reminded of the client meetings for the next day and the research he needed to undertake for his personal project. He was reminded of the post he needed to compose for his blog and about the premium he needed to pay on his insurance. The mundane took over slowly, and he shut his eyes. His sub-conscious issued a command to his brain to generate a list of To-Dos for the next day.

And he ventured into the abyss. Just like that.

The ride

February 7th, 2007 § 8 comments § permalink

(Poem by solbeam, Image creator unknown.

(Poem by solbeam, Image creator unknown.)

I am lovin’ it!! :)

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