Google Plus Vs Facebook

When i come down and try to answer this question, I am invariably lost in thought about business model. Google is a data hungry model, which feeds, thrives and survives on data. User data. It all started with Google search engine which crawls through search to make it better.
Then came ORKUT, which did good , and integrated with google made it best thing. Then came facebook and swept the world. People started finding classmates, teachers , long lost friends and even parents of the late. People got into applications, and likes and then came chat. Now its video chat.

In the meantime, linkedIn and twitter came, but FB still kept its place. Google started its small piece of effort. Google Wave ... it waved off without any ripples. Then came Buzz , it still is an extra piece of noise in my gmail account. I hardly use it , but it keeps on adding to distraction. Well to the point, if Google Plus as of now is good.

As compared to facebook ,it has google chat in it. Like it . Not for long. If you enable it, and you have a gtalk / gmail chat running, then u will hear ping sounds more often. It has groups but not apps. One day u want to share a piece of news with a group, u post it for them. But if you think there is someone else who would be interested in that news, either you have to add him/ her up your group or let it go to all. Reposting and long procedures.

Video chat will take a long time, and there is no feature as group chat as in facebook. There are circles but they are not grouped. If you have an interest based group, then you can post them but not talk to them as in facebook.
The apps in google are not added, and even when they will be , i dont think it will be as wide as in FB. Facebook is used by millions today, and it does not require you to have a gmail account or a facebook account. It gives u a facebook account when u join. Will google plus give you that.
The idea for google plus would be a downturn since it will go to an already established network with very less features.

Now for instance , if I ask you today to delete your facebook account and start using google plus, would you do that if all your good friends are not on google plus.
Honest scare for those people who think a particular person will not add him/her up again will not do it.

As I finish , I will tell you one thing. Adding a person to your friend circle who have not joined google plus will not send them an invitation. Add a person to the circle, create a post and send them email. When the person receives email,  he /she opens the post and joins the Google+

Camping - Mt Medona

Camping is one of the things which I did for first time in USA, and have been a fan of it ever since. So here we are , all set to do camping on Mt Medona on July 4 long weekend. Its gonna be two night, 3 days stay in a bare minimum camping tent which would at max house two people. There were bigger camping tents, but that would defeat the entire idea of camping.
Staying back like in primitive days, in wild forest,with real bear scare ,starlit sky and no luxury of an Air conditioner or fan, just pure nature. The arrangements to the trip were immense. Tents, clothes and gear. It took us while to get to the mood of camping , realizing we will have to leave the luxuries of home.

Deleting Facebook Friends

When the whole world is trying hard to get to a million twitter followers, a hundred thousand friends , a hundred groups and 1 true friend, I took a different route this time. I opened up my friends list , it was so hard to find where it was hiding. I had 340 friends. Man , 340 people are my friends and I have no clue where the hell each one of them is. No wonder my privacy settings wont help me any longer.

Do you have over 200 friends , its highly unlikely you interact with all of them. If you do , you are really lucky. You have 200 facebook friends and 200 friends on facebook. It is not the same thing, it is different. Facebook is meant to be in touch with friends ( not with those you know, or you once know , and now its no business between u and them, dont add up). A pretty face telling you mutual friends, or just pester on "Add a Friend" would let you add one, then second and .... 

Do you see a person and read , Deepak Gupta is now friends with Sameer Mohan and 20 other people. Suddenly Deepak Gupta is rich , his friend list is long. The  fact is only Sameer is a friend and 20 others tagged along just because I saw friend request from them, or knew them. Then for 2 years 18 of them never talked to me, for those 18 the door is open.

So when I started looking in the list, I could easily delete 50 of them , even without thinking twice. The only thought was, "Was this guy my friend"? But yes, the challenge is hard when you look at refined list. Take a deep breath , delete the friends you dont interact with, most of the time , since they dont interact they won't even come to know you have deleted them. Or you wouldnt come to know if they deleted you. There is no reason to have a heavy FB friend list when every information you have here is at stake.

I did it today,  I know some of the people reading this might have been deleted. For those people, I am not sorry , and if you could have better interacted with me , or let me become a friend from facebook contact, you would still be there. A person who gets out of list was not supposed to be in it in the first place.


Thank you Facebook for helping me find friends and those not so friends

kabhi kahin mein aur tu

kabhi mein bol na paaya ,
kabhi tu sun na paayi ,
kabhi mein bula na paaya
kabhi tu bhula na paayi .

kabhi jashn mein na bulaya tujhe,
kabhi tu mehfil mein mil na payi mujhe,
kabhi mele ki masti mein gum thi tu ,
kahin apno ki talaash mein mashroof tha mein

kabhi kaam ke bojh tale na mil saki tu,
kabhi haar ke darr se bol na saka mein ,
kahin zindagi se ladti rahi tu ,
kahin jeet ke jahn mein choor raha mein.

kabhi zindagi ke talaash mein socha tujhe,
kahin soch ke kisi  mod per mila tu mujhe ,
kabhi haath milaya, kahin chai bhi piye saath,
kabhi zindagi ke her mod per mil bhi lo.

kabhi kahin saath mila tera ,
kabhi per mil na sake kahin dubara,
kabhi bachpan mein rehna ka vaada kiya tha saath,
kahin aa gaya hai waqt daal lo ab haatho mein haath,
Kabhi Samay Ki Dhaara Mein Beh Gaye Main Aur Tu

Cherry Picking June 2011

It is another year of picking the fresh cherries , and again we are there for second year in row to beat the heat. Brentwood gets a visit from us atleast once a year. Each time we go, the scenic route and the amazing lushless but beautifully crafted mountains make us smile. Last year heat made us go a bit early. We invited a hell lot of people, only a few enthusiasts turned up.
Participants : Me , Anshu , Vaishu , Nimi , Suhas , Nisha , Murgendra , Mustafa , Rajesh .

We started ON TIME , and were in

Back to PhotoGraphy

after a long lost time , i have realized one more dream . Owning of a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera , known as DSLR. Its not even 24 hours and I am ready to go to the place where I think this will be used to potential. I will complete the post with the pics when I am back.

Facebook Policy When ....

When you go ahead , and harmlessly like a page, many things happen. you let the page access your login id, your location , yr place , your hobby and list of all your friends. Let see when I tried to create one page for my blog:
The terms and conditions of facebook are mentioned here :
https://www.facebook.com/terms_pages.php
(The text in italics is copied from above link as on 5/20/2011 2:36 PM).
Let me post them here:

1. Any user may create a Page; however, only an authorized representative of the subject matter may administer the Page. Pages with names consisting solely of generic or descriptive terms will have their administrative rights removed. 
So if you wake up one morning and make a page on Sun, you might just have to bring in Sun certificaion , not the java ... oops , i mean Oracle one. 
2. Content posted to Pages is public information and is available to everyone.  
It means if you have a private page set up, its perfectly legal for hackers to break it.

3. If you collect information from users, you will obtain their consent, make it clear you (and not Facebook) are the one collecting their information, and post a privacy policy explaining what information you collect and how you will use it.
Does it tell me I can COLLECT your information , and it will be mentioned in TERMS which none of us read. So If I make a page today, and all my friends join it, I might or legally be able to use all the data I need. So next time while you like a quote or a page, do remember ... you are liking the page to extent you let it access your data
4. You must not build or incorporate any functionality that identifies which users visit your Page.
It means there is still a tracking system which can be harnessed to our use. We might not have accesss but the page u 'Like" owners will know you were there.
5. Applications on your Page must comply with the Facebook Platform Policies. 
Which are followed always only in Realistic ideal world
6. You take full responsibility for any sweepstakes, contest, competition or similar offering on your Page and must comply with our Promotions Guidelines.
And failing will lead to your page deletion, and still the culprit has all the info he needed
7. Third party advertisements on Pages are prohibited. Ads or commercial content on Pages must comply with our Advertising Guidelines.
And still we see 1000 ads on each page
8. You will restrict access to your Page as necessary to comply with all applicable laws and Facebook terms and policies.
9. You may not establish terms beyond those set forth in these terms to govern the posting of content by users on a Page.
10. Page names must:

a. not consist solely of a generic or descriptive term (e.g. “beer” or “pizza”);

b. use proper, grammatically correct capitalization and may not include excessive capitalization or use all capitals;

And IS THAT TRUE as of today ? 

c. not include character symbols, including but not limited to excessive punctuation and trademark designations; and

HARDLY anyone use it ... 

d. not include taglines, superfluous descriptions, or unnecessary qualifiers. Campaign names and/or regional or demographic qualifiers are acceptable.

The terms are over you, the decision is on u. NExt time you like a FB page, do give it a thought .

kahan se laate ho yeh poetry ....

kahan se laate ho yeh poetry ....


kal mujhe us ne sabke saamne pooch hi liya,
chori itni kyun kerte ho ,
bolte to khoob ho kahan se udate ho ,
socha bol dein ki google per milte hai sab,
per sachai bhi to kadvi hai ab.





dil ki zabaan hoti hai her ke pass ,
kuch bol dete hai , kuch seh lete hai,
kuch kalam ka sahara lete hai ,
kuch apne kadam ka ,
manzil milte hai jinko unka apna aasma hai,
jo reh jaate hai yaad mein unka saara jahaan hai...

Pyar to ker hi leta hai yeh dil,
kahin jeet to kahin kisi ki haar,
to kisi ko mila sirf intezaar ,
kuch nikal dete hai ek umar is baar,
kuch ko naseeb nahi hoti subah ek baar ...

Jeet to meri bhi thi uski jeet mein ,
haar jaane ki sochi nahi thi ,
likhenge khat pyaar bhara kabhi ,
yaad mein ghazal si ban gayi ,

bottle to uthayi na gayi kabhi ,
aur Zindagi ruk na paayi kabhi ....

wafadari to ki usne bahut us roz,
muh mod ker gayi kuch ya aur kuch soch ,
gaane bhi gaye aur lagaye kuch soz ,
yaad nahi gayi uski wafadari nibayi mere dost ...

hum nahi laate poetry kahin se,
bus yaad uski jab kuch bolti hai humse,
to kalam se nikalte un alfaaz ko kehte hai tumse,
ab na poochiye ga ki laate hai poetry kahan se ...

Osama Dead ?

The headlines, and most talked about. Osama is dead, Justice finally. Or is it just an appetizer to satisfy our growing hunger for peace, which is far from reality. Is OSAMA dead, I don't believe it. There are so many questions to be answered, where was Osama. Who was the one giving shelter. Is that person not a curlprit. When Osama's picture is in every US embassy around the world, I dont think a reason any country won't be knowing Osama is hiding in the posh colony in its territory.
Osama was the key element who was thought to have master-minded the 9/11, or was he. There are video tapes in which he claimed, is it not possible they were doctored. Is it not possible someone was playing bigger game in the back, assuring him safety and security, which was provided for nearly a decade. It could have gone longer, but its immaterial to the fact , there was no bigger conspiracy since then. The small attacks will continue, and Obama is neither needed nor master-minding any of those. Then who it is. It is probably one of those who have sheltered him, or hidden him. If he knew he would be caught one day , then there must be a successor. Whoever it will be, there will be one. Who is it.
Do we have a right to celebrate on a mere dead puppet . There is something we need to make sure next time we are so happy. Is the celebration for real or the cause for it. Is real Osama dead or is he really dead. Will it lead to end of terrorism . Will it make world a safer place to live. Will it

Ed Levin Park - Milpitas

Early morning Saturday parties are not something I really look forward to, neither was this one. So as we stood up and went to this park, it was so much of a fun. The park is located at the outskirts of the city, and just touching 680 ( 237 East and 4 miles straight). The lush green park needs to be reserved well in advance, and you pay for the parking too, but its worth it.
The BBQ was fun , there was a cake cutting for a guy and lots of games, masti and magic. The BBQ place was clean, very fine and the climate perfect for the outing. We did played a lot of games, drank like tankers , ate like monsters and ran like demons. We had lots of fun, great conversations, some new friends, and promise of meeting up again if possible.
I will be uploading a few masti pics soon.

Mauii

Paradise in USA , the Hawaiian

Who is God and why is he watching us ...

Who is God. Why do we look upto skies. Why do we believe in luck. Why do we associate the success stories of peers as luck and ours as a hardwork. What is this theory of all happens for good, or does it really happen that way. Do we really get what we deserve, or do we want what we deserve and still get it. Do we deserve what we have and still lose it. Why is there such a difference between a cup and a lip. Why wil man for his utmost greed for money come up and murder the dreams, molest the expectations and rape the opportunity that so called Luck in other people dictionary give us.
Why is it some self centered , useless , rude and  yet no value add to society exists to stop you from the glory of achieving your dreams, from clinching the much needed respite from the hard luck. Well there is God, who help those who help themselves. This is the quote, then people who selflessly help others must be fools, since those who cheat others always think about themselves, and help them. People like me. How many like him. Why are people not going in religious path but in spiritual path. Why can't the things be simple and happy as expected

Just In Time

For once, I thought my adventures into last minute crazy plans might go in for a toss when I married a very well organized easy to go and plan-in-ahead girl. Well, happens to be that last minutes plans are here to stay, and for long. We have planned to go to Sequoia and King's canyon, but the last minute snowfall and landslides cancelled the planned. We have packed our stuff and were ready to go. There was no stopping back. Then we ran through a list of places we could have gone and enjoyed our 1st shagun anniversary.  The list was brought up and each of the place mentioned was visited recently. Reno/Tahoe , Clearlake, Mt shashta , Redwood national park, Vegas and LA. We then sat down and searched the maps of places nearby. Nearly everyplace was marked, visited. Then we found this small place ,Pacifica, CA.
We went and have an amazing time , we have to , we had.
We started the journey to Pacifica, and just on crossing half moon bay realized, its perfect weather for beach side fun. We stopped over Dunes beach in half moon bay, spent half a day in there, before proceeding to Point Montera lighthouse. Amazing sounds of water hitting the shore 50 feet below your feet. This was followed by our trip to Pacifica ... and three days later we were travelling to Hawaii, and that was also just in time

India Against Corruption- Anna Hazare

Someone had to stand upto it, someone had to say, its enough. It was expected to come sometime, sometime when everyone knew the corruption is part of life,  but will no longer be.  I recently saw a lesser known hindi movie,"Paathshaala", which truely reflects the condition of indian politics and corruption. The conversation between Nana and Shahid Kapoor is:
Nana: This is not an era of revolutions.
Shahid: There is not a time for revolutions, it just comes.

This came just like that. When we were celebrating India's success in climbing Zenith of Cricket , when all were paid a crore for win , a stout man was planning future of his nation, of our nation. First time I saw, India against Corruption, I decimated this as good effort, but the next day when I came to know its Fast until Death, is something that impressed me. Not that I am sadist or impressed by his claims , but because he has done it. He has the right to information and his deeds speak well off. He can die in course of fasting, because the coffers filled with billions of dollars won't shed a tear, or stop the crime. They have already sold the soul to money, to dollars to the Swiz banks.

The response: The media response might have been slow, the news were filled with World cup, the Poonam pandey and somewhere in the corner is this man, fighting not to make history, not to be a part of history, but to make corruption in India a part of history.
He is still ripe in his movement , we have our twitters, facebooks and orkuts open, we have friends , we have the initiative. We always have had the right energy, we just needed the push. Here we are, and when a a billion strikes, a million corrupt will be rooted off. This was known. The man knows it, so his fight is still deeper. He is not fighting the scams , he is fighting those who do it, and to change it so that tomorrow when someone comes and sits in there, we common man can be proud of him, and of ourselves.
The day is not far when Common Man of world's largest democracy will not longer be common.

poonam Pandey ... the loser

As if that was the last thing Indians wanted, a world cup to rain in with controversy of a below par model with semi-developed brain and get-fame-at-any-cost trying to take off her clothes to encourage Indian cricket team. Thank God, she was stopped , else Indian team might have lost the world cup.
As I was looking through Indiatimes, and there is this headlines, Poonam pandey takes off her clothes in Zoom studio.
Here is the link to it, and I am pretty sure you will come back to read more, and might not even go through all the pics.
http://photogallery.indiatimes.com/fashion/indian-models/poonam-takes-off-her-clothes/articleshow/7882126.cms

I sincerely thought if she wanted the world to laugh on her with her claims of bare all, I cant withstand her taking a top off, how can we even imagine she will do that. Its illegal, its crime against those who still believe in beauty. Please don't take the artistic touch from painters, there are lot many, much better, and better looking girls (forget the models) who can smile and inspire Team India to win.

I am glad , we dont need more of Poonam Pandey, and sad that such females still exist in India. Hopefully we won't see more of such nonsense, and dignity or encouragement be maintained by all.
PS: Atleast have a figure to die for, or a face to look or a smile to smile all.