Social Networks and Tabbed Browsing

All of us browse the net using browsers which support multiple tabs for our convenience if not the Operating System's at the very least. Microsoft who tried to disagree finally was forced to provide a feature that was definitely something that was required - I hope know one patents that!

At this point the same social networks Google Plus, Google Mail [another chat client], Facebook, Orkut all have an in-browser chat client that pops up. To make matters worse, you can add Skype's website too without the standalone client and try out their pop-up. Need I tell you that there's tons more you can get to which have their own chat environment that keeps popping up!

Promoters of all the above products have forgotten what a user can/cannot do when all these simultaneous windows go up with people chatting - especially with a different number of people just saying hi on all of the tabs.

Open one more Google+ or Facebook tab, the problem gets more complicated. This is well known. The creators of these social networks use each others networks to gauge competition if not connect. Why then has this set of issues not yet been fixed?

None of these can co-exist, nor can 1,2,3 coexist at any point.

1. Multiple Tabs with Different Social Networks and Popup chat enabled
2. Multiple Tabs with the same Social Network and Popup chat enabled
3. Third Party website with multiple Social Network chat enabled through a client in Multiple Tabs

Lack of cooperating with your competition to deliver your customer the best in class result is one thing. But not adding a feature that is superfluous enough not to disturb the user by "default" (yes: default) and not switching it on whenever the multiple tab situation is present is just plain customer agnostic bitchy networks. No wonder GM pulled out ads and who knows who else pulled out their ad campaigns which were obviously not properly targeting.

Wait, when was the last time I clicked through to a useful thing in a social network advertisement? I've never done it in that. -- That should speak volumes about "sponsored/highlighted updates" et al. I am not nitpicking at one social network, but "the social network" coz everyone else ends up copying them - however intuitive the copying might be.

EU India - Free Trade Agreement

( src: http://www.caef.org.uk/d123ldr.html )

The Indian government has seemingly invested a lot of effort into this Free Trade Agreement (FTA) from July 2007.

We will be ill advised to pursue this in the present time in its present form.

Status Quo
India imported goods worth €34.7 billion from the European union, and exports  goods worth €33.2 billion to the EU.

FDI from the EU to India is about €3 billion and from India to the EU is about €0.8 billion.
Refer: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/creating-opportunities/bilateral-relations/countries/india/

Sentiments of people are strongly against it. Here is a comparison of pros and cons (written in converse) to show what the FTA holds against the people of India and for the people of India.

"A civilization is built on what is required of men, not on that which is provided for them." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

Bandwidth Wastage is Energy Wastage

Click to Zoom

The Internet is plagued by Spam and now Bacn. This has an impact on the Internet and Energy consumption that we have so far not paid attention to.

Expression on the Internet

The Internet today is a distributed medium enabling free expression worldwide. Freedom of Expression is under threat by measures of Censorship initiated across Nations.

Quoting William Blake, "Everything that lives, Lives not alone, nor for itself." Humans like to express opinions to others. If we observe or listen, we may respond at least in thought. Communication is also an essential means for survival. Hence, increasing the number of media of expression is to our advantage. Erroneous content and falsified content also exists within media.

Nothing we see, hear or experience is verified individually or by groups. Verification is the realm of "Scientific Method." Objectionable material, to individuals [breaching privacy] has existed for long. What is Gossip, if not privacy intrusion? Erroneous and Objectionable material is found in all media.

Creation of the free world began with tolerance and permissiveness of expression. The Renaissance was rebirth of freedom of expression. It spread across the world during an era of trade and colonialism. The Individual became more magnified in society than ever before after renaissance brought more freedom of expression. Freedom to elect governance, gender freedom, educational freedom followed and are still in a stage of growth.

Security: Strong Passwords

With Identity Theft and Information Security being compromised in several instances in the recent past, users of the Internet and Electronic Digital Services have a duty to improve the quality of the passwords, the keys to their Digital Real Estate. Here's a nice infographic (src: http://lifehacker.com/5876541/use-this-infographic-to-pick-a-good-strong-password ) which shows how to get it stronger, and why it isn't strong at the moment.

Click to View Full Image in Picasa

Let's at least keep our doors locked properly and not provide a walk-in to Internet thieves. We owe at least this much to our 'digital' selves.