Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts

Monday, June 29, 2009

Blog Vs Tweet

If I take my own example the verdict is clear.. In the last 3 months I did 550+ Tweets as compared to the measly 1 blog post. However, I do have the desire to do meaningful blog posts but haven't gotten around to it just yet.

Twits are easy.. are short requiring little or no formulation time.. and can be done via multiple channels. For that matter I hardly do twits via Twitter website. Most of my twits are done via TwitterFox or BB. Compared to twits, Blogs take time... and that perhaps is the primary reason why haven't blogged as much as I would like to ..
Because blogging isn't easy. More precisely, other things are easier – and it's to easier things that people are turning. Facebook's success is built on the ease of doing everything in one place. (Search tools can't index it to see who's talking about what, which may be a benefit or a failing.) Twitter offers instant content and reaction. Writing a blog post is a lot harder than posting a status update, putting a funny link on someone's Wall, or tweeting. People are still reading blogs, and other content. But for the creation of amateur content, their heyday for the wider population has, I think, already passed. The short head of blogging thrives. Its long tail, though, has lapsed into desuetude.
But then, I am not ready to write Blogging obiturary as yet. I am going to make a sincere attempt to get back to it on a regular basis. After all, I do want to make my millions from adsense and retire to take blogging (and running) full time.. :-).

Friday, January 11, 2008

Blogger Stress???

I am NOT Om Malik of GigaOM by any stretch of imagination, but can kind of understand and relate to this story. However, I don't think it is just related to blogging but can be generalized to any profession and how one internalizes / responds to the challenges.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Welcome to my New Home

This one has been pending for a long time now.. but finally made the switch..

I have moved my blog to my own domain (http://ram.viswanathan.in). I took a couple of detours to get here nevertheless happy to here. I tried switching my registrar in vain and wasted several months in that process. I tried switching from rediff.com to net4.in but couldn't. After numerous calls and emails with both registrars, was told that .in domains cannot be transferred within the first 2 years of registration. I don't know if it is true or not, but for now I will have to put up rediff.com domain management online services. Their domain management system is by far the worst in terms of usability and and comes with little or no help. What is your experience with rediff.com domain management services?

In anycase.. welcome to my new home..

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Power of Blog and the Good side of Our Kind

I am moved beyond words as I do this post.

When I first read this post about a week back, I felt sorry for the kid and moved on. It was nameless / faceless story which didn't affect me much. But as I followed tragic this story at Kiruba's blog, the human and the emotional angle unraveled and that brought me to tears. Not just because of this tragic accident, but also because of the outpouring of generosity by people who may have never known or met the victim.

We all tend to get cynical about the humankind as we see the greed, cruelty and violence we unleash on ourselves and other kinds. But once in a while these kinds things happen and puts proper perspective on things. Several things showed the good side of our kind in this episode..
  1. First Kiruba starts of with a regular post and seeing the comments, he harnesses the power of blog to reach out and solicit help. He also launches a wiki to keep the story alive. He has been at it like a trooper...
  2. People from all walks of life, most of whom who may have never known the victim reach out to help the family which is dire need of assistance.
  3. Students from a different school drum up support and collect funds.
Man.. this made my day in the midst of heartbreaking news about the deadly arson in a moving train and the likes. Hats off to Kiruba for this crusade and my salutes to countless others who have pitched in.. God Bless

Monday, February 19, 2007

Private Blogging

Is private blog a blog?
This is question has out there since blogs came about and still can elicit religious debates. Sometime back there was this debate between Jeff & Robert on whether private blogs are blogs? This discussion started the way in which MSN was counting blogs hosted with it.

Many popular blogs (including blogspot) have long provided the ability to keep blogs private or to a set group but they are not flexible enough to set the authorization at a granular level of an individual post. Now there is a new player called vox in the market who provides that. This may be the way to go as more and more people to take blogging but don't want everything open, but at the same time want to maintain a single blog.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

What's wrong with that?

PK, one of my favorite blogger has posed a series of questions to our NRI brethren. He wonders why an average NRI always cribs about the problems of India while keeping mum about the ills of their adopted country. Aren't there problems in their new country ? Just to be sure, PK lists a few in US and Europe.

While I may not agree with the focus and the message of this post, I must applaud PK for gently provoking a well mannered debate over this which has attracted 125+ comments. (I wish I could get double digit comment for any of my post.. let alone three digits..).

The strength of a society lies in its inherent ability to retrospect, take criticisms do course corrections as needed and move ahead. Every society, country has its own laundry list of problems and challenges. That shouldn't preclude anyone from talking about issues as they fit.

PK: Just as you have views on the America's inner city neighborhoods and its war on terrorism, folks sitting on the other side also have their views on the stuff they have seen, experienced or heard in their country of origin. What's wrong with that?
  • What's wrong with an NRI complaining about rude and atrocious behavior of Chennai Autos, who seem to have scant respect for their clients and the law of the land. Is it not true?
  • What's wrong with an NRI complaining about the infrastructure woes of Chennai or India? Aren't they not true?
  • What's wrong with an NRI complaining about the corrupt political system of India? Isn't it the biggest bane of the Indian society today?
Why get defensive about these stuff? Why not have the strength to face it rather than sulk. India should face up to these issues and fix them and make it the best possible place for anyone to live and cherish anywhere in the world.

I don't see anything wrong with anyone pointing out any issues. It is up to the respective parties to evaluate and use as they see fit.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Where is the Promised 2mbs?

I have been eagerly waiting for the promised 2 mbs broadband connectivity from BSNL. But so far, I haven't seen anything close to that speed.
Where is the promised Speed
My son & I have been periodically checking the speed and the maximum we have seen is around 100 kbs. So, I wonder where is the promised speed?

I understand the promised enhancement in speed is only till the BSNL servers (I don't have anyway of testing that segment alone) and my test would have gone to some server in US. But what good is blazing speed till my ISP, if it chokes from there.

Indian Broadband can definitely benefit from the increase speed, but what is needed even more and on a urgent basis is a bigger pipe in to the global internet backbone. Majority of the content accessed from India actually comes from outside (mainly from US) and therein lies the actual speed problem.

Importing New Blogger to WordPress

I need help..

I tried to move my old posts from blogSpot to a WordPress blog in my domain (viswanathan.in) and seems to have hit a road block. This is what I have done so far:
  1. Installed WordPress blog @ ram.viswanathan.in/blog
  2. Invoked the Import option in WordPress blog
  3. Clicked 'Import Blogger / blogspot'.. Which prompted for blogger authentication
  4. Kept getting 'Login Failed' error message
  5. Got stuck here and couldn't move further
I looked through the forums and stuff and couldn't get clear cut information. Some folks have had problem importing from Blogger Beta, but now that Blogger Beta has moved out of beta and is now New Blogger, I wonder if this problem has been fixed..

Has anyone exported out of the 'New Blogger' to WordPress ? What am I missing?

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Blogging Trends in India

Interesting article in The Hindu today (Nov 28, 06) about Blogging trends in India.

Some salient points in the article:
  1. Dominated by men
  2. Popular amongst politicians
  3. 'New fourth estate' in the making
I would agree with #1 but #2 & 3 are questionable and far from reality.

#1 Majority of the bloggers I have met in person or virtually have all been men.. would be nice to see a equal mix here..

#2 Do Indian politicians even know about blog? Even if they know the medium, why would they care? It has little or no impact on their electorate / vote bank.

#3 This claim is far fetched. Internet penetration is absymally low in India and on top of that, majority of the blogs are in English which further diminishes its reach. The claim of blogs becoming the 'new fourth estate' is simply incredulous.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Blog Pals

One of the unexpected benefits of blogging for me is the friends / pals that has come along my way. I enjoy chatting with these blog pals and particularly when I connect with the F2F.

Case in point #1: Chennai Airport
A total stranger walks up to me and we have a brief but a good chat because of my blog.

Case in point#2: Toronto
I got a email out of blue from a Toronto resident when he sensed I was in Toronto. Though we played telephone tag a couple of times, we finally connected. We had a wonderful evening talking about several topics of interest over not so good Indian Food @ Madras Palace (near Markham).

It was so nice of this guy to take time out his busy schedule to reach out and spend an evening with me, it simply made me happy. Muthu Murali.. Thanks for taking the time to connect with me.. I truly appreciate it..

Update# 1 : Murali: Thanks for keeping me honest..

Friday, November 03, 2006

Blogswara

Blogswara2
The virtual music group back.. These guys have done everything over the net from composition to recording and everything in between. Its a truly novel effort and they have taken it to the next level with the second album.. take a listen..

Related Links
My earlier post

Monday, October 09, 2006

Lost A Reader

I lost one of the ardent readers of my blog. He has been following my blog from its early days and used to read my blog everyday. He also has no qualms in giving me 'no holds' barred review from my English to the content.

He walked up to me yesterday and said he has stopped visiting my blog because I have not been posting regularly.

I am kind of disappointed to loose his readership, but it is also a clear signal for me to get my act together on the blogging front.

Now wonder who that 'ardent reader' is? That is my son, Raghav....

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Now On New Blogger

Just moved to the new Blogger beta..

I am not yet seeing any big changes other than the addition of labels / tags .. which is long over due..

Do you know any other big changes / improvements?