unspoken reflections of my heart
technology
the bing effect
Jun 4th
The world of search engines needs a change. More features. More colour. More user-friendly. And Bing has it all.
Sometimes, I sit back and think.. Doesn’t Google have competition? Is PageRank one of the best algorithms? Has search become synonymous with Google? Microsoft has come up with its own replies to these questions. Bing.
Microsoft has done its homework. Bing has given a new dimension to search. More meaning to it. And really more splash. Truly speaking, the name is really cool. Bing. Bing.
Probably we still love the Google home page, the simple elegant one. And it might take some time for Google users to get used to the colourful interface that Bing provides and the rich image on the home page. But those days are not far away.
One great challenge lies ahead for Bing. It has been etched in user’s hearts that Google is the best. Bing has to change this statement. That will be the first step towards winning the race. But it has already captivated me.
From now on, I think I might “Bing” a word rather than “Google” it. And for all the egosurfers out there!! Try out Bing.
searchWiki vs. Egosurfing
Dec 16th
http://www.google.com/search?q=Karthik+Sankar
Many a times I have typed my own name, ‘Karthik Sankar’ in the Google search bar to find where my blog or website is listed. Sometimes it features as the fourth best, but sometimes it appears only in the second or third page. I have always felt happy when my page is listed with a better rank. But when it moves down the ranking, I have always thought of doing something to improve, probably add my name some fifty odd times in the <META> tag ??? But oops, Google does not use META for indexing !!!
Now Google has introduced searchWiki. It gives me an option to rank the pages, promote them to the top, add pages that are relevant to the search term, delete pages from the search results and so on. Nice idea !!! Now I can promote my website to the top…
But then I learnt, the changes made are visible to my eyes only. The preferences are stored in my Google account. Hmmmm… So even now, my site will feature in the second or third page only, if someone else searches for my name. Still, some consolation for me. I will find my name right on top when I go egosurfing again !!
The preferences are not completely personal. Google allows us to add comments to the webpages. These comments, along with the details about the number of times the site has been promoted or demoted, is available in the “Search all notes for this searchWiki” link.
searchWiki is really a powerful and useful addition to Google search. If I search for a term and the website I needed is listed somewhere down the order, I can make sure the next time I search, it is right on top. Really useful, except for people like me who do Egosurfing. I probably must log out and then search for my name….
Reliance Data Card in Ubuntu 8.04
Nov 29th
Reliance data card ( Huawei ) works really well in Ubuntu, and getting it to work is very easy.
All that one must do is to plug in the USB modem and edit the /etc/wvdial.conf file:
Step 1: Edit the /etc/wvdial.conf file by typing in the following lines
[Dialer Defaults]
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Modem Type = Analog Modem
ISDN = 0
New PPPD = yes
Phone = #777
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
Username = **********
Password = **********
Baud = 460800
stupid mode = 1
The username and password generally would be the Reliance number.
Step 2: Run (as root) the following command from terminal:
wvdial /etc/wvdial.conf
The output will be similar to the following:
--> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.56
--> Warning: section [Dialer /etc/wvdial.conf] does not exist in wvdial.conf.
--> Cannot get information for serial port.
--> Initializing modem.
--> Sending: ATZ
ATZ
OK
--> Sending: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
OK
--> Modem initialized.
--> Sending: ATDT#777
--> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT#777
CONNECT 230400
--> Carrier detected. Starting PPP immediately.
--> Starting pppd at Sun Nov 30 09:34:55 2008
--> Pid of pppd: 11854
--> Using interface ppp0
--> pppd: h?[06][08]p?[06][08]
--> pppd: h?[06][08]p?[06][08]
--> pppd: h?[06][08]p?[06][08]
--> pppd: h?[06][08]p?[06][08]
--> pppd: h?[06][08]p?[06][08]
--> local IP address 220.226.8.49
--> pppd: h?[06][08]p?[06][08]
--> remote IP address 220.224.135.10
--> pppd: h?[06][08]p?[06][08]
--> primary DNS address 202.138.103.100
--> pppd: h?[06][08]p?[06][08]
--> secondary DNS address 202.138.96.2
--> pppd: h?[06][08]p?[06][08]
Now you can browse the internet…
