A Gadget to Promote SFD

Here is a Google Gadget to promote Software Freedom Day (SFD): http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/108664960353323049895/sfd-ilugc.xml

You can add this gadget in Blogger blogs, iGoogle page, Google sites, Google documents etc. Pretty much on all sites that supports Google Gadget API.

I have not hard-coded location and link, so that you can change them if you want to promote some other SFD event(like in JFC, for example). Defaults are Birla Planetarium, Chennai and http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2010/Asia/India/Chennai/ilugc respectively.

You can change title too. Since every visible portion is made editable, Tamil Blogs can also utilize this. Just change values in textbox to Tamil when blogger asks you to change defaults if necessary.

To Add Gadget:

Go to the page where you can edit page design (in Blogger this is Dashboard-->Design), click on Add Gadget --> Add gadget by URL and give the above URL. Some services like blogger will ask you to change default values and in others you have to change them after adding by selecting Edit Gadget.

Google Buzz Bookmarklet

I noticed that few web pages have this 'share this on buzz' link after few of my friends shared pages using that link. Then I thought, why not make this into bookmarklet like 'Note in Reader' provided by Google Reader.

I searched for it and found that few people have already made such bookmarklet but by using a round-about way of noting in the reader and using the connection between reader and buzz to share it. This will work only if

• one uses Google Reader and
• has added Google Reader in Buzz connected sites.

I wrote one which works natively using same URL that was used in the 'share this on buzz' links:

Buzz This»

Drag it to the Firefox/Chrome bookmarks toolbar. To share a page just click this button in bookmarks toolbar. Try clicking right now, and share this page. ;-)

NOTE TO PEOPLE READING FROM READER: Google Reader strips scripts from page. If you want the script visit my blog.

கட்டற்ற தமிழ்க் கணிமை செயல்திட்டக் கருத்தரங்கம்

யாவர்க்குமான மென்பொருள் அறக்கட்டளை மற்றும் சென்னை தொழில்நுட்பக் கல்லூரியின் கணினிச் சங்கம் இணைந்து நடத்தும் இக்கருத்தரங்கத்திற்கான நோக்கம் யாதெனில் இனங்காணப்பட்ட கட்டற்ற தமிழ்க் கணிமை தொடர்பான தலைப்புகளில் பங்களிக்க விருப்பமுள்ளோரை ஒன்று கூட்டி ஆக்கப்பூர்வமான விவாதத்திற்கு வித்திட்டு, அத்தலைப்புகளில் மென்பொருள் உருவாக்கத்திற்கு / பங்களிப்புகளுக்கு வழிவகை செய்வதாகும்.

இடம்: ராஜம் அரங்கம், சென்னை தொழில்நுட்பக் கல்லூரி, குரோம்பேட்டை
நாள் : 28-08-2010
நேரம்: காலை 9.00 மணி - மாலை 4.30 மணி
பங்களிக்க விருப்பம் இருப்பவர்கள் தங்கள் விருப்பங்களைப் பதிவு செய்யக் கடைசி நாள்: 15 ஆகஸ்டு 2010
கலந்து கொள்வோர் பதிவு செய்யக் கடைசி நாள்: 26 ஆகஸ்டு 2010
உறுதி செய்யப்பட்ட தலைப்புகள் அறிவிக்கப்படும் நாள்: 18 ஆகஸ்டு 2010

மேலும் விவரங்கள் பெறவும் பதிவு செய்யவும்: http://csmit.org/index.php/tamconf/home

Net Neutrality in Danger?

The news item Google and Verizon Near Deal on Pay Tiers for Web seems to indicate so:

Google and Verizon, two leading players in Internet service and content, are nearing an agreement that could allow Verizon to speed some online content to Internet users more quickly if the content’s creators are willing to pay for the privilege.

The charges could be paid by companies, like YouTube, owned by Google, for example, to Verizon, one of the nation’s leading Internet service providers, to ensure that its content received priority as it made its way to consumers. The agreement could eventually lead to higher charges for Internet users.

Such an agreement could overthrow a once-sacred tenet of Internet policy known as net neutrality, in which no form of content is favored over another.[Emphasis mine]

I think net neutrality is still sacred. Is Google being evil?

Donkey Days

***RANT ALERT***

Please stop this nonsense called friendship day and its wishes. Understand that all these friend/mother/women/lover/dog/donkey days are created by these greeting-card/gift/cell phone companies to make more money. Since number of people who got fooled for this 'frandship' day increased year-by-year, I had to pay 50 paise for every SMS today. :-( AFAIK last year this was not in paid-SMS days list. And AFAIK only Diwali, Pongal and New Year were originally paid-SMS days. Thanks to increasing number of fools every year, this paid-SMS days also went up and now it stands at 10 days. :-(

PS: You don't become my close friend just because you sent an 'advance'(read free) 'frandship' day wish/forward. And my friends are always my friends no matter they wished or not. The only day I expect a wish and make a point to wish others is the birthday.