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Google Docs & Spreadsheets and Google Groups
Friday, October 13, 2006
Google is one of those companies that clearly sets the bar way up there. When Gmail came out, they were lightyears ahead of anyone and even to this day, Gmail is still very unique in its style and philosophy of emailing. The other two big email providers, Yahoo and Hotmail, are also currently developing new systems. Some people have access to the beta-versions of these systems and they both seem very nice. Of course, as always, Microsoft will be releasing its version last for two reasons: one, it’s not ready and two, it needs time to copy what the others have done. That being said, the new Windows Live Mail will be a welcome upgrade for Hotmail users who have been waiting for such a change for a very long time now. In fact, I think that many users who were using Hotmail as their default personal email account have migrated to other systems like Gmail or Yahoo for the simple reason that Hotmail has barely evolved in the past 5 years. Google Docs and Spreadsheets One onamatopia: Wow. A few weeks ago, Spreadsheets had already gone into its Beta version and was very promising. Today, Google Spreadsheets does the most common things that we use Excel for and it even has some features that Excel cannot replicate because of the very nature of online services. One such example is intelligent co-op. To test the system, I decided to create and share the ownership rights of a spreadsheet with Zarry. While we were both hacking away at it, I noticed that the spreadsheet is quite smart in fact. For example, if we both happened to be modifying the same cell, the sheet would put the latter person’s input into the cell right underneath. This is great since all changes done in co-op are instantaneously seen by your collaborators. For now I’ve been able to create an expense-type spreadsheet to help me see how much I spend and where. It’s working great. Google Docs is also one of those things that will just blow you away. It’s like having OpenOffice but online. Again, you can collaborate on the same document with someone else. Although the rectification did not seem to be immediate on both sides. There is also a cool revisiong tool that allows you to compare the before and after version of the same document.
Google Groups
If you’re an AUP student or alumni, you can join this group. If you’re a close friend, this one. There’s lots of subliminal humor in Google products. For the Groups feature, the Language of your group seems to be creative:
Elmer Fudd? Borkborkbork? I doubt very much that Google Groups will be able to create Added Value with this product but it does certainly explore the Added Potential of networks that would otherwise die if they didn’t have such a convivial communications tool. Like all networking sites, it is important to remember that they only get value because we, the users, agree to use them and give information to them. Posted by:
Nick in
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) And the list of nonexistent languages goes on! My group uses Elmer Fudd as its language and so far it seems to be doing OK.
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CNN Blooper with North Korean Crisis
Monday, October 09, 2006
North Korea has alledgedly performed its first nuclear test. Ouch! Of course, the news networks are going crazy with “Breaking News” and “Just In!” logos everywhere. It seems that in such haste, the all-mighty CNN has slightly goofed up!
Oh well… |
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Turkey in the EU? - I say NAY!
Friday, October 06, 2006
The debate still goes on about Turkey’s adhesion to the European Union. A few months ago, I was favorable to this for various reasons that I will not develop here. However, I only recently discovered the “Islamization” of school literature that had been inserted into the Turkish school curriculum and, now, I am truly horrified at the possibility that such a country would join. What happened? Recently, Turkish publishing houses have inserted Islam into classics that did not have it. Pinocchio, Tom Sawyer, Heidi, Victor Hugo, La Fontaine, and others! Tom Sawyer is a slacker but very conscientious when learning his Islamic prayers. D’Artagnan, from the Three Musketeers, is told that he can not visit Aramis. Why? “He is surrounded by men of religion. He converted to Islam after his illness.”
Let’s not forget that Turkey has been a secular country since the 1920s! The Turkish government has said that it would take legal action:
I read this and I think “Hmm.... good start.” Then they say something that is simply weak:
Notice that there is NO mention what-so-ever of religious allusions or distortion of literature. Is Turkey’s government too weak to enforce its own law? Countries wishing to join the EU have a lot of requirements before they are fully admitted. In Turkey’s case, many things are already met. However, a secular government that is not capable of controlling and accepting world literature the way it is, is completely and utterly unacceptable to me. Sources: Forum Post, BBC, Telegraph (Primary source). |
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About the uselessness of Hotlines - FREE and ORANGE
Some weeks are just strange. Some weeks, bad things just seem to accumulate and it gets to the point where you ask yourself “Why?” “How?” Last weekend, there was a mighty impressive storm over Paris that took everyone by surprise. I was driving down Champs Elysees when it began and (to my delight I might add), it started raining so hard that motorcyclists were forced to stop and people on the streets were scurrying to find refuge under some store’s porch. Anyways… point is, it was an impressive and sudden storm. It didn’t last too long; maybe 10 minutes. When I came home however, both aZ and I quickly noticed that our cell phone reception within the living quarters was close to 0 whereas just before, we were always getting a 5 out of 5 connection. My first guess was that the storm knocked out an emitter somewhere. This was Saturday. By Tuesday, the situation had not improved and so I called Orange (my cell phone provider) and told them about the issue. They said that they would know if one of their antennae had problems and none of them were showing any signals. They then offered to update my SIM card (as if that would do anything). I said yes. They never did it. Wednesday - FREE starts having problems. My internet connection as of Wednesday was very choppy. It would shut down and disconnect almost routinely every 20 minutes with no remedy possible but to simply unplug and replug it back in. This was VERY annoying. As I write this post, I still seem to be experiencing problems. When I called the hotline, they asked me to run so many tests that I just hung up on him. They wanted me to:
1) Bring the modem to person who has another Freebox and try it there.
Only after I had done all these things would they do a test on their side. So naturally, after hanging up on him, I called support again, asked the same question, and told them that I had done all of the above tests and everything had worked fine. The conclusion was wonderful : Wait and see. So here I am, on a Friday night, waiting to see if FREE will ever be stable again… On the bright side, my cell phone is back to 5 out of 5. I don’t know why. I’m guessing that there’s something in my building that was disturbing the signal. Can’t wait for this week to be over… |
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Series Review: Prison Break
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Prison Break - Season 1
Summary:
New. Prison Break is awesome simply because it’s new and exciting. Rarely has a series developed its characters as much as Prison Break and kept the story and suspense so intriguing and intense. PB has kept me on the edge of my seat (couch) for 3 weeks now (I got the entire season at once) and I can’t wait to get on to Season 2. The fact that each episode is 45 mintues long is great because it gives us enough time to really get into the mood of the series. I would strongly recommend this series to anyone who is looking for something new and captive to watch. This is not a funny series. It’s a suspense-packed (with some brief action) production not suitable for young children. Some links: IMDB trailers collection, Offical Prison Break Video Blogs, Offical Prison Break Homepage. Posted by:
Nick in
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• Series reviews
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