Emergintex

I have been getting a lots of hits on my blog, through this Google Search, which I believe is due to a very true User Interface glitch by IE team.

It was pretty easy in pre IE7 era to look at the browsing history, by clicking on the History button right there, in the dead center of the toolbar. Under IE7 this has been moved significantly hidden location. It is now under the Favorites Center panel on the left, which you can bring up by clicking on the ’star’ on the left side. Once you have the Favorites center up and showing, you will see the History button on top right, within that panel.

Hope some of you find this useful, as I certainly was lost the first time, in trying to view the history. Then I looked at my hits and noticed most of you are coming here, to find ‘where the history is located in IE7′, hence this small post.

A lot of hype going on in the VoIP market at the moment. You are wondering how many companies (Vonage,Sunrocket,Jajah…) are providing how many ways of doing basic telephony utilizing VoIP. At the face of it, all you ever wanted was talk to someone, be able to let others leave you a message if you are not able to pick the call ( voicemail ), then you probably needed to access your voicemails over the web. With all the numbers you now have to manage, your friends and associates are tired of keeping track of you based on what day/time it is , the same way you are tired of tracking their numbers!

I would say GrandCentral solves EXACTLY one of the above problem point. Merge all your phone numbers, disconnected until now. A Simple user interface shown below solves this problem, which for me is **THE BEST** to solve this problem (so far).

You start off by choosing a number of your choice (based on availability shown by GrandCentral, during registration).

Once you have a GrandCentral number (ONE number for lifetime), you can enter your other regular numbers (cell, work, home etc..) using the above interface. You are all set. Now whenever someone calls on your GrandCentral number, all your above phones will ring. Dont worry, you can group the numbers so that you assign your contacts a group and then configure what groups ring into what phone. Smart. Thats like assigning rules to your emails in Outlook. who goes into what folder

There are lots of other useful features when you create a account:

1. Set what the callers hear when your number are ringing. MP3’s can be uploaded.
2. Record a conversation at the touch of a key while the call is on.
3. Assign a calling number into Spam group. Your phones will NOt ring at all, if another call comes from the flagged number. Think of this as a Junk Email (Call) Filter.
4. Neat UI to listen to your voicemails and record your greeting.
5. Download your voice messages in individual MP3’s or forward it to other phone. (Thanks Vincent)

What you would probably want to see in GrandCentral:

1. *Bulk* download my voicemails as MP3. Probably a batch process, driven by a search Query. I create a search based on all calls between so and so OR all calls to such and such group. Hit Done and I get all the voicemails downloaded, as individual files intelligently named, in a zip.
2. What IF GrandCentral doesnt woo you anymore. How can I associate my much used GrandCentral number with myself now.

Rate plans what I can get from the site are as follows.

Overall a service worth trying.

Burrp! a ‘user-driven-review’ system, which recently opened its services for restaurants (and clubs, and cafes…) for Mumbai,India, has announced that they were able to achieve first sign of success. By generating revenue.

This is good for a service which is still in its early stages, and is surely a push to them. I am not sure what the revenue was from, but I guess it could be from a partnership with some local business in some form.

Right now the team is in US, doing fundraising rounds to take the service to a next level. We wish them luck and hope to see Burrp! expand to other cities soon.

UPDATE: The technique didnt last long. I took my iPod out for a walk, and it started clanking again.  

Well, this isn’t exactly emerging technology, but felt like posting it out here.

My 4th generation IPod died this weekend, and all efforts to revive it were in vain. The Menu + Select option to reset the pod were futile, with metal clanking noise coming in from the iPod. I gave up this morning, accepting the fact that it is dead.

I Googled the trouble one last time (iPod shows Folder Icon with exclamation icon), and came across something where it was suggested to drop your iPod on the floor (from approx. 3 inches) OR hit it on the right side. I looked at the iPod and decided to do so. After a couple of drops, raising the 3 inches to almost a ~12 inches, nothing improved. Then I tried dropping it on its right edge, and try again. Lo & Behold! It booted up nicely into the main menu, and gave access to my music. The tracks played smoothly and its charging up now.

Not sure how long this will survive though

The above image was posted from Windows Live Writer…and it seems to be uploaded nicely to the blog.

Editing old posts is as easy as editing a document.

Stumbled upon Windows Live Writer this afternoon, and was impressed by the clean installation and configuration process. Though I thought that it would only let me post on MSN Spaces, but once in the configuration I provided credentials and URL to my WordPress based blog, Windows Live Writer seamlessly downloaded settings of my blog service once it determined what kind of blog service it is – WordPress. It probably downloaded some templates/designs for WordPress blogs, but I might be wrong.

Once inside the tool, it seems you are in a stripped version of MS Word, it is neat, and I am off to writing posts for Emergintex.

Update: This tool has some awesome User Interface. I agree that there is nothing much to do in the tool, hence the cleaner UI, but still! I am simply impressed by the interface, as opposed to a heavier patchy UI for other MS tools like CodeName Max.

I did a post here some time ago, demanding the industry to come up with LifeStyle Changing products, which I termed as LifeStyle 2.0 wave.

One of the services I was looking for, was when can we start integrating all the web services in our daily lives. Outside the PC/Laptop, but on our breakfast tables/coffee tables. How about getting your e-mail as regular snail mail: on your breakfast table.

TV Compass is one such startup from Chicago, which is moving towards the above goal. From what I can gather from the sources, is that they are trying to integrate some intelligence in otherwise dumb TV remotes. I hope at the minimum, it is WiFi enabled, runs Windows Pocket PC OS, and lets you get on your WiFi. Cool!

Throw in a small e-mail client (POutlook) and you have mail on your coffee table! Get TV listings on the remote screen itself, without disturbing the TV program by bringing up the guide on the TV. You scroll and select the programming on the remote and then commit it to the TV. Snap!

I am excited on this product, as it promises to break the barrier. Possibilities are endless on this one. I am trying to get in touch with the people involved in this, to get more details about the vision they have (if someone from the inside is reading this, send me an email).

Some fresh air in the stale Web2.0.