Showing posts with label desktop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label desktop. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Genesis of the Google World

Google seems to be taking over the web in ways that I could not have imagined! so much so that I get a feeling it is almost playing 'God' on the web ;). The following verses have been penned in a fit of web-vine inspiration.

From the book of Genesis, of the World Wide Web.

Chapter 1.
In the beginning, folks created the Computer and then the Internet. The Web was then formless and dark, but Google's thoughts were already moving fast over it. Google said, "Let there be a good search engine" and there was a good search engine. Folks saw that search was good and separated information from the junk. Folks called the search Google and everything else Crap. There were ripoffs and other vain attempts, but they passed, to bring about the second day.

Then Google thought, "Let all the emails be gathered in one place and let unlimited storage appear", and it was so. Google called the emails GMail and everything else Spam. Folks saw that it was good.

Then Google said, "Let Google sprout Advertisements, links yielding clicks and pages bearing targeted ads of their kind"; and it was so. The search and pages brought forth eyeballs, eyeballs clicks and clicks dollars and Google saw that it was good. There were ripoffs and other vain attempts, but they passed, to bring about the third day.

Then Google said, "Let there be docs that folks could freely share over the expanse of the Internet"; and it was so. Google made these apps for documents and for presentations. They made one for Spreadsheets also. And Folks (including those at MS and Y!) saw that it was good. There were ripoffs and other vain attempts, but they passed, to bring about the fourth day.

Then Google said, "Let swarms of folks download apps on their PCs to talk freely over the internet and let there be more of social networking stuff flying around on the internet". Google created the GTalk app and Orkut and put them up everywhere it could. The mission was to "Multiply users, multiply clicks and multiply ad dollars". There were ripoffs and other vain attempts, but they passed, to bring about the fifth day.

Then Google said, "Let there be a google app for everything on the web, each according to its kind". And there was google news for the news hungry, a google Android for the mobile, a google blogspot for the bloggers, google maps for the way-trackers, sketchup for the sketchers, Earth for the desktop-globetrotters and even google Moon for the moon gazers". And Google saw that all this was really good :).

Then Google said, "Let us make the Browser in our own likeness/ liking, in our own web-form, and let it rule over ALL that is on the web - email, pages, blogs, maps - ALL". Google created the Browser in its own image and called it Chrome, for Windows and Macs (in the labs). Google funded the project and said, "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the web and subdue it, rule the MS of the desktops, FF and Y! of the internet and every living app on the web".

Then Google said, "Behold, I have given Chrome every dollar yielding ad source that is on the ether of the world wide web, they shall be click generators for it. Every web-app, every line of code shall freely live on java-script and cookies". Google saw all that it had made, and behold, it was very good. There were ripoffs and other vain attempts, but they passed, to bring about the sixth morning.

Chapter 2.
Thus the Internet and the Desktop were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day Google completed all the work and folks at Googleplex took a break and a few took a rest in their private islands in the Bahamas.
...

...(They perhaps don't have a clue what monsters they have created! Whew, watch on folks! Anupam is tired re-creating the story of creation of the web, and wishes to take rest...zzz)

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Adding Voice to SMS

The telecom revolution is sweeping the world at a scorching pace. Nothing has changed the way people interact and transact as the humble mobile phone has. For the first time, an Information Technology device has become accessible to even the less privileged in developing countries. SMS has today become an integral part of inter-personal communication. Consider this: worldwide, 620 billion SMS messages were exchanged just in Q1 2007!

Unfortunately there is a vast community for whom SMS does not hold relevance- the visually challenged. Trust me, they DO use their mobile phones extensively and it IS a great blessing for them even if it just provides them a means to attend or make calls.

Back in 2003, we at Tinfo Mobile had realized this and did whatever little we could. We made a Java based application for Reliance India Mobile users. Most of the Reliance handsets being very limited B&W ones at that time, we made a lightweight client app that resided on the phone with the bulk of processing handled by on the server-side.

The idea was simple:
a. The client app would retrieve the SMS text and send it to the server.
b. The server would use a TTS (Text to Speech) engine and convert it into an audio stream.
c. The client app would play-back this audio stream.

We were able to create a working prototype which won us a Special Award. We also made a lightweight application that was client only which would read out just the missed / dialed /received calls. This app was named 'Call History' and was launched by them.

A few other softwares are also available:

1. TALKS. The most notable among them is TALKS for Symbian mobiles from Nuance. The only problem is - its limited to a slightly high end mobile phone category - Smartphones running on Symbian OS. Nevertheless its a great piece of software.

2. Mobilespeak. Developed by Code Factory, mobile speak has a braille hardware support option also.

3. Pocket HAL. Developed by Dolphin Computer Accessories, Pocket HAL supports Windows Mobile PDAs.

I wanted to provide more options if I could and thats when a new product idea struck. Most mobile phones (even the relatively cheap ones) support bluetooth, infra-red or cable connectivity. Quite a few visually impaired people (though I admit, only a small percentage) have access to a computer either at home or office and PC IR/ BT dongles and cables are pretty cheap nowadays.

The result is SMS Talkz - an advanced voice enabled SMS management software for plain old PCs supporting most handsets with bluetooth, infra-red or cable. A software that resides completely on the PC requiring nothing to be installed on the phone and still reads out your SMS in voice. (Its also designed to be a good companion to those blessed with a good vision too)

The first Release Candidate is being readied at the moment and we require people to use, test and report bugs. So, those who have a little time to spare, please pitch in by downloading the beta from the SMS Talkz site. Serious bug finders will be rewarded by serious discounts too (do sign up at the forum with valid email address for that) :)

Also, do help spread the word on the product by including any one of the following banner images on your blogs / sites:

Banner Code (copy paste to your page, replace IMAGE_URL):



Box banner 320 x 265:



Leaderboard: 750 x 80



Banner small: 505 x 70



In case you want to provide just a text link, please use the following code:


Thanks! Your help is appreciated.