Xobni my new inboX

I am loving it and this is no commercial for McDonalds. The history of the product is synonymous with serendipity similar to Flickr. The company started off building an analytics tool for MS Exchange and due to privacy concerns converted it to desktop productivity tool.

What is Xobni? (BTW, Xobni is reverse of Inbox)

Xobni is the Outlook plug-in that saves you time finding email conversations, contacts and attachments.

I have been using this for almost over a month now and I am impressed. What do I like the most about this - search search and search! The primate search that comes with Outlook is no better than lousy *yawwwnnnnn*.

Here is what I like:
Every selection of an email shows the details of the email - emails exchanged with sender, sender's "network" basically who else the person has been ccing (nothing privy), and files exchanged (two extra candies for this).
It also tells what the sender's rank is. In other words, how big a fan the sender is.
A graphical presentation of what times of the days the emails have been exchanged.
Search is BIG. Search not only searches current mails but archived ones too, did I say I like the search.
This is what is there for instant gratification but if you are the statistics and graphs kind of a person then select from menu "Xobni Analytics" and voila you get all kinds of analytics to dig your email behavior and productivity. Be prepared for some surprises here.

Now, what I don't like:
Two things, when the Xobni companion is visible it drags Outlook to a craaaawwwlllllll. Not good, defeats the purpose.
Secondly, while using three column Outlook interface the companion eats most of third column. This is little annoyance but it isn't that bad either.

Jodhaa-Akbar: Bollywood's arrival.

Don't know about the controversy brouhaha about this movie and I could care less. The movie is a good watch. It is majestically made, very royal and for once the battle scenes look genuine and to the scale. I am giving it 3.5 ticks rating. Ash is as mannequin as it gets and Hrithik delivers. Good job. Movie suffers from what every period movie does, we all know what happened! So, the movie is a refresher in motion picture.
Music is excellent, Khajaji is phenomenal but then I love sufi music.
So, what makes this movie Bollywood's arrival? One thing, I did not watch this movie at NAZ8 (naz8.com) the local desi multiplex. Being the monopoly in the bay area they feed crap when it comes to service. But, thanks to UTV they had the movie running at AMC Mercado and it was a delight watching this movie in a stadium theater! Why thanks to UTV, while reading an article on Bollywood in The Economist I learnt that UTV's Ronnie Screwala makes big bucks and risky movie and UTV has partnered with Hollywood's biggies to deliver it with quality in US town.
Now go watch the movie in quality.
UPDATE: How could I miss the jugalbandi of Hindi and Urdu? Very melodious.

A peppery green Mint.

OK, so I have been wanting to write about this site for a while but did not because I wanted to "check it out" myself first. And, about six months out here I am. If you are as fidgety and control freak about your personal finance as I am and want to know which crevice of your car you dropped your last penny, then this is for you. No no, this is not one of those metal detector for the hobbyists. Mint, allows you to manage and watch your finance from one place.

What you need to do this?
Sign up with minimum information, enter account info (username/password) for your financial account (don't panic yet and continue reading, and do not hesitate to click on the ad on the right).

What Mint does?
If you have successfully completed the above Mint goes out and collects retrieves all transactions from your different accounts and displays:
1. Transactions from all accounts (can be broken down to individual accounts)
2. Show graph for your cash to debt ratio
3. Show graph for spending trends (you can drill down to individual transactions)
4. Information on where you spend money
5. Compares spending habits with US average (basically, tells you how stupid you are)
6. Shows alerts for over budget spending based on patterns
7. Sends weekly reports to your favorite email
8. Sends alerts for upcoming transactions
9. What you can't do is the best security feature, commit a transaction (transfer funds etc)
And more ...

How does it do this?
Before putting any info into this site I did a little sniffing around and this is what I found. Mint uses Yodlee a very well established company that provides the gateway to financial institutions and is proven to be one of the most secure around. My previous employer's 401 K provider (ING) used them for a similar service as Mint's (and more). Mint, by itself holds very little personally indentifiable information and claims to not hold any sensitive info. I have some faith considering this is a very big fish to fry then to steal from somebody like me. Besides, every now and then they expire the financial account info and user has to re-enter this info.

Very nice, what do I pay?
Nothing! Free. So, don't expect an 800 call support. They do have online support via email.

So, how do they make money?
By providing another feature to its users. Ya, they tell you how screwed you are and if you want you can apply to better banks, credit cards etc. and save and make more money.

Over all after using this for over 6 months with real data, I am spanking this 4.5 stars. It keeps me on the toes.

What can be improved?
List of financial instutions. They have most but some are still missing.
I would really want to see some of the stock brokerage account, which they currently don't have. ING used to have it so Yodlee has this provision.

UPDATE: I just got wacked on this post so here I will try to add some more:
I already have the features that I liked and what I missed was user interface:
This is a cool AJAXy site enhancing user experience with ease of use.

The idiot box is becoming smarter now.

There was a phase when TV suddenly had reached a point when it was being called the idiot box. Then came TV on the computer and now everything every where. Especially since start ups like Joost et al hit the scene.

What makes this interesting is, in todays digital era most of our valuable memories (aka pictures) and entertainment including home videos are in digital format. Keeping a desktop next to your flat screen will only make the stars collide.

Some time back I had pondered upon an idea of bringing all this together in one box somehow and had stumbled upon the concept of HTPC (Home Theater PC). This would do everything needed or at least what I could dream of. Interestingly, also found softwares in FOSS (Free Open Source Software). After brainstorming with Swash and before I could start any thing I was MIA.

Now, if looking at the XBOX logo you are wondering WTP am I smoking here. Well, thats what I thought when I looked up XBOX in detail. This bugger could be answer rather the best answer to my digital worlds collide and become one theory. XBOX's marketing team has hardly highlighted its hidden abilities, one being - media hub!!

Yes, XBOX can be used to stream videos, audios and digital picture files from your computer on the network to your TV/Home Theater. This is without any additional purchases. All you need is the computer should be running XP, Zune software or Windows Media Player 11+. This can also be acheived by using devices from Netgear, D-Link or Apple TV. I found the list to either not cost effective or not very kewl. Even heard they are not easy to setup except, of course, Apple TV.

Now, you can play games, watch TV, stream videos or audios in one place. Thats what I call the - Geek Appeal.

But, only drawback, with recent change in the DVD market and most of the studios aligning behind Blu-Ray XBox gained one disadvantage. It only comes ith HD DVD.

Note, I have seen no place that mentions Playstation 3 to have the media hub feature or for that matter any other game console.

Except for the Blu-Ray part and lack of direct ways of capurting Internet streams, I give full points to XBOX even though Playstaion 3 is sexier looking.

Funny news from The Onion - Half Of 26-Year-Old's Memories Nintendo-Related

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, Oh Lord!

But I know the reason why you keep your silence up, no you don't fool me
The hurt doesn't show; but the pain still grows
It's no stranger to you or me

If you are like me who has a constant urge to flip out a mobile computer to do something on the Internet then you would certainly understand what is in the air tonight. Before you jump into the urban legend around the song, I am talking - Wi-Fi.

Meraki is a SFO based community Wi-Fi provider suffering from same issue as numerous wonderful ideas that failed! If one visits their web site one will lose all hair scratching - WTP?!?! is this?

Meraki, the way I understand, is a very similar service as European Fon (also allows to make money just like SyncOne.net). A free community shared Wi-Fi. Marketted under a geeky "Mesh Network" concept that essentially means people buy a box from Meraki and share it with the community. The bandwidth or the connection speed is separate for the user from the community. Google failed miserably trying to bring Municipal Wi-Fi, I am hoping for Meraki to click. BTW, Google, I believe, has invested in them and will be serving ads to free users.

What I could not figure from their site:

1. How exactly they work?
2. What one gets for their $?

This post has reference to In the air tonight by Phil Collins.

I want my free music.

So much for the RIAA's witch-hunt.

*spit* *spit* I just spat my frustration to revel in this free software. Free Music Zilla check out more here. You can download YouTube movies and pretty much every other knock offs of YouTube and watch them at your liesure. The software pretty much chimes with all your

And, if you are still wondering how you are going to watch a FLV file. Well, here is another open the free player.

Enjoy!

Update:

Just as this was not enough here is what Google Ads displays note the boxed area:

Note: This posting is in no way encouragement to piracy or any illegal activity. RIAA's reference is only to highlight the point that prohibition is not a solution. Apple like evolution is what is needed.

Taare Zameen Par - Another Brick in the Wall.

And, teachers leave them kids alone; is what's conveyed, more precisely teachers and parents in this movie.

All in all this movie has made sure that it does not do better than average at the box office.

With such a phenomenal story and script. Excellent performances this movie still may not click at the box office since it does not have the "Dard-e-khisko" factor to it. There is no leg shaking, masala or fly-me-to-the-moon action - perfect formula not be heard.

Second half of the movie can be considered slightly slow. Aamir does not make an entry for all one hour and fifteen minutes of the movie. But the first half is a delight. UnADULTerated childhood innocence, naughtiness and day dreaming. The delivery from Darsheel Safary is absolute out of the world. Some of the "senior" mega "Shirtless" star "Khiladis" who have raved millions by "stammering" for no apparent reason need to pick some queues from this kid. Especially, some of the emotions delivered by this kid is sheer brilliance. Dunno who owns the credit the kid or the director.

A lot of netizen has recommended this movie to moms and pops to watch. IMHO, this movie is for everyone who have tastes more evolved then who just like "Dard-e-khisko".

Also, I do not recall any movie (including Hollywood) that has addressed this subject. So, this is one heck of a different movie. IMHO, if this movie is not better than then this is as good as Black. I do not have the calibre to describe this movie any more. So here I rest my keyboard. Watch this movie and judge yourself.

4.9/5 bravos from my quarters.

This posting has references to the lyrics from The Wall, Pink Floyd's album. The song is Another Brick in the wall.

OSO - an anorexic fest.

Manoj Kumar, Udi baba, slap stick parody; wondering what has this got to do with Om Shanti Om. Hmmm, these were the things I liked about this movie.

Those who know my "penchant" for SRK would probably expect that I would thumbs down this movie. But, this movie was saved by Farah Khan's parody. Yes, she has an excellent humor very similar to Sajid Khan's (her bro). These two siblings do not even spare themselves when it comes to ridiculing.

The movie does a good job at creating a period setup, colors and costumes. And, has done an excellent job at parody. Story is as haywire as Phil Spector's hair. In general digitized copy of Karz.

Three scenes that sent me off my seat only for humor reasons in no particular order.

1. Manoj Kumar's driver license (He has his hand over his face)
2. "Udi baba" (Bengali exclaimation, here super heros super power)
3. South Indian movie set (Funny was Rascale. Subtle connotation - pussy cat, used for a stuffed tiger doll.)

The song that sent this movie's claim to Guiness Book (no confirmation) "Deewangi Deewangi" is what I call the anorexic fest. Whatever happened to the healthy heroine who used to eat their three normal meals a day!!! Also, some dance steps in this song is plagerized from here (forward about 20 seconds and check the two guys standing). "Dard-e-Disco" has a very catchy tune but I hate the song for the bastardization. So, I am going to refer to this track here on as - "Dard-e-Khisko".

I would probably give 3/5 chicks to this movie.

On a side note: WTP is/was wrong with you SRK?
Who are you trying to impress with your exposed midriff and belly button? A Badshah's courtesan covers her midriff better than this.

Credits:
Phil Spector image - The Nightwatchman/ReadingEagle.com

If this is true then this is kick butt!

They just solved my ever-so-dominant pain in the you-know-what. This is kick butt. I hear a lot of "new" Web OS coming and yap yap and more yap. But, these guys are convincing and unlike every other NKOTB who preaches on surviving on ad banners; these guys actually have a revenue clamp.
You try and then buy! Welcome to Windows world (however much people hate M$, the reality is that is the way we get fed.).

What is so great about nivio:
- They have squared the wheel (in their own words), it is a windows system
- You get 5 GB of managed storage (Synched, backed up, spam and virus protected. Now, is that kewl or what)
- You have a suite of free softwares available or can buy other apps. (I loved this idea for $$)
- Funny part, you need browser to access this and for browser you need an OS. The world is round after all and consumers get screwed any ways!!!

What I think we really need now is a real $100 laptop that actually works! And, I have an idea. A simple computer/laptop with Celeron or a low end AMD processor about 1 GB of flash based storage, and has only one app on this masterpiece - a BROWSER does not matter which one and this could be running on any stripped down OS available (and so the need for storage space).
Turning on this baby should be nothing but starting the BROWSER. Bang and "The World is yours"¹.
Say what you?
1. Line was used in Scarface (Michele Pfiffer's debut movie).

Considering Airtel Call Home - STOP!

OK, so if you are considering switching to Airtel call home or join new just because they are offering 7.9 cents a minute. Hold your horse real tight and read further.

I made the mistake of jumping first and suffered big. First I am very keen to meet the Program manager, Project manager and the person who signed off on their website. The security (registration) is as if they are going to hold my future behind it and the user id is a randomly assigned number even major banks allow to pick a 5 character userid if it is available. The site did not allow me to login for almost 24 hours and it was picky thereafter as if the person authenticating me was on nicotine break. After all is done, tried calling got a long dead break and no response and could not use the line anyways. They use AJAX very nice BUT it is broken some of the places and can be very confusing! I could never register my phone numbers.

Finally, after all the huffs and puffs decided this is it. I am cancelling this. So, I call up the support that claims 24/7 support hehehehehehe ..... only if you are willing to hold 40 minutes! After 7 attempts, a carpal tunnel injury and endangering another tennis elbow I got through and on complaining about the wait, I was told - "it is because of high volume call", that was a big no no; it is the sign they are having more trouble than what I have imagined. The representative was friendly and nice though.

On the whole wait before you sign up, Airtel is a good company and is not inherited through generations so I am all for it. They are very disruptive and they have shaken Reliance India Call (I use this service). I uphold their jihad on price, kudos. It will take them some time to fix some of their website glitches. These glitches should have been caught long time back though, this is not some thing new and Airtel is big enough to do so. Something, seriously missing is easy dial feature capability to store numbers.

I did not face any such trouble with Reliance India Call and never had to call the support.

PS: Reliance is matching the deals with some good breaks.