Buzz ain't bad for a bumblebee like me..

Ok, there is a lot of negativity these days around anything Google.

Since I am not employed by google, am a self proclaimed techno nerd (not the software type though), and have had an open love-hate relationship when it comes to the products they dish out, here is an open heartfelt feedback of why this is actually a good thing..

1. Now that they fixed this contact business, it is no different from facebook. You can share all info to all public or choose to share your info with select people. You do have to invest some time and effort to set up the group lists for friends, family, etc. etc.. then what you share gets viewed by different people. Have checked it out and it works nicely. (it also tells you which items you shared with the world and which ones with family).

see the example shot below..

2. if all your buddies put their accounts and share it in the buzz stream, you get to see their feeds, tweets etc. just like you see blogposts on reader. the look and feel of a reader is maintained.

3. You don't have spam on this yet with stuff like "so and so took the How much do you know Shah Rukh Khan quiz and scored 13%. would you like to take the quiz?", in a quiz where even Shah Rukh would score only 5%.

4. the picture viewing is great!

5. It is almost a blogger and reader combined into one.

Now, if google makes you selectively embed links and images into the text box.. in other words, integrate the blog editor into buzz status updater, and have the ability to selectively show only my posts in the buzz stream, then will I even use blogger? highly unlikely.

So when people say Buzz is trying to replace facebook, twitter etc.. it also seems to be trying to replace blogger and blogreader as well!

They should have done this two years ago!

Just look at who are on your facebook list. Friends from school, college, work, friends you make thanks to who your kids go to school with, friends you make because of your hobbies and that is pretty much it.

It is usually the same bunch of people you email the most. I fundamentally had an issue with Facebook calling everyone a "friend", be it an acquaintance or a thick pal and almost stopped using it because of how it had security issues. Facebook fixed those issues and have a way to send your status updates to select folks only and have a way for you to say "NO" when it comes to information on your profile going out.

Buzz is doing the same thing.. It does surprise me that they didn't learn from the mistakes of Facebook before launching Buzz! The good thing with Google is that the react fast when you point out things to them.

Looks like someone heard my plea for a one stop shop with one login!

The second impression on this one is "I could get used to this!"

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Gwitterboocasa!

The new Buzz by Google integrates gmail, status updating, picassa, flickr, blogger feeds..and for some funny reason, even your chat status!

all you have to do is to click on the Buzz under your Inbox in gmail to start using it..

An interesting concept..

Will have to wait and see how it grows on you!

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Instant Jaya Lakshmi and Tamil Girls for a price

You have probably heard of instant noodles and Instant Idiyappam and even instant soup..

But have you heard of Instant Jaya Lakshmi?

The google ads that pop up on the sidebar on gmail have always provided me with a source of amusement.

Today was no different. was reading an email from Tamil School and on the side there were the usual "find hot pics of Kavya" type ads... (guess if there is someone called Kavya on the cc list, it picks up this ad!)

So you can imagine how uncorrelated the ads are to the context.

Today we found Instant Jaya Lakshmi and as an added bonus found out that there is a place where you can get a good price on Tamil girls!

They have become a commodity now! Apparently there is so much competition for Tamil Girls that there are 500 sites selling them. Told Jr. that they are virus sites and you should not click on the ads on the side, even if you are curious...

I let my daughter read the emails we get from Tamil School. Do Not think Google Ads are safe anymore for kids.

There is no screening of any kind on these ads.

Seriously thinking of taking away Jr.'s email till she is a little older...

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