Book Review: 9 to 5 Cubicle Tales

'9 to 5 Cubicle Tales' is a chronological account of a boy who endures some testing times in his childhood, then graduates, gets into an Information Technology firm and his life experiences with colleagues & friends, frequent challenges faced and how he copes with each in this tech field. The author, Harish Rijhwani, has 20+ years’ experience in IT and it goes without saying that this book could be inspired by his own IT projects, colleagues and experiences. But you know, if I get a chance to ask him, he will admit the characters are fictitious and any resemblance to someone is purely coincidental.

Judging a book by its cover - The book cover is exquisite and very detailed albeit appearing simple and clean! The reader will understand the nuances only after reading the book. A lot of what is mentioned in the book is shown here. From the various locations that matter to IT professionals, travel, to the currency, the deadlines, errors in the code, Uno cards, the ladder of success (or failure, whichever way we look at it), love, savings, home, coffee, books and many more are depicted. Each of this aspect of an IT professionals’ life finds a place in the book!

Who should read this book - IT professionals, if it wasn’t that obvious from the title! Students planning to pursue and IT career will also find this insightful.

What's the story like – The book follows the life of a boy-turned-man, Hridaan Rajdev, who experiences a tumultuous childhood of loss of a family member, then moving to a different city with relatively less relatives (see what I did there?). The story, said from Hridaan’s first-person account, moves quickly from his childhood to his college life to starting his professional life. This is where the story opens up and expands on the numerous work-related experiences, some of which are hidden right on the cover page. How Hridaan grows from a talented newcomer to a seasoned professional in an industry that gives you a lot but also takes a lot from you making you wonder if the journey’s worth it (personal opinion: it is).

How's the writing - The book is divided into 51 chapters, each covering a specific aspect of the life of Hridaan. The author has used simple and easy to understand words to narrate the story, the surroundings, the character traits of people involved and the protagonist's notions and feelings. This makes it a breeze for a casual reader (by that, I refer to someone who's not always seeking a book to read every day). The life-arc from a student to a fresher in IT to an experienced pro to onsite opportunities is also linear and we, as readers, aren't required to 'read-between-the-lines', which is a breath of fresh air in today's convoluted and non-linear storytelling era. Description of locations, unique personalities in Mumbai and the words used to describe sounds are also well done. 'League of extraordinary gentlemen' as auto-rickshaw drivers and BEST bus-driver as someone who aspired to be a pilot took the cake!

So, what do I think – It’s a breezy read from start to finish. If you are IT professional, you will relate to mini-stories in the book and enjoy the overall premise for sure. If you are looking for a book with writing that's easy to understand and one that doesn't force you to reach out for the dictionary app, this is it. It’s been quite a while since I have gotten hold of a book that doesn't have sub-plots, characters with varying shades of gray, twists, thrills in the plot and a story that takes the reader on a socially relevant roller-coaster ride. However, there was one aspect of the writing that I couldn’t quite get used to. When a scene is being played out in your mind while you are reading the book, that scene somewhat abruptly ends and a new scene begins without a proper segway - as in a journal. I am not sure if this was a conscious decision made by the author. It took me some time to get used to this writing technique. It wasn't a deal-breaker for me though, just an observation. Personally, I enjoyed the bits where Hridaan had to sit through aptitude tests & more importantly, group discussions as it was identical to what I went through during my time. Group discussions being a 'fish market' is exactly how I would categorize the experience (with all due respect to fish markets). 

My Rating: 4/5

PS: Is it just me or did you also feel that you were 'literally' part of this story? If you know, you know.

That feeling when humans lose to machines

Life from 5 years to roughly about 23-25 years are tough on Earth, especially in competitive places like India. The target audience are kids turned to teens and later to adults. You are required to study, study and study till your grades improve (exam on exam and relative improvement compared to your batch-mates). Post 10th starts another bottleneck competition to fetch the best seats in top colleges. The cycle of “study-study-score-secure another seat” continues for 2 more years and you reach the first genuine crossroad of your life. What to do after 12th? The preferred fields are Medicine and some take Engineering (although this preference is diminishing every year). 

Once you have decided the future course of action, another cycle starts till you finish your graduation and starts searching for a job. Now assume you got your job (dream or not – immaterial in this case). You join a company, meet your team, your bosses and learn about what (all) you are supposed to do. Irrespective of what your job profile is, you will have to do something that is mandatory. The document you are viewing needs to be viewed again while you are travelling. Assuming you don’t have a smart device, you will inevitably click on File >> Print >> Print or for the tech geeks out there – “Ctrl+P”. You walk towards the printer to collect your printed document and… wait. Wait again. Still wait. Why is the printer not responding? The diagnostic side of you wants to check the buttons on the printer, maybe there’s a start button somewhere. Bingo! There is. You press the button. No response again. You repeatedly press the start button illogically hoping that pressing continuously will make the printer realize that the user is frustrated and it better get started. But that’s not how the machine is configured.

That’s when it hits you badly. All that study, all the sleepless nights you took to study stuffs, some of which you didn’t like is of no use. All those mathematical formulae, geometry, trigonometry, Mechanics, Engineering Drawing, Mobile technology, Radar and Satellites, nano-technology aren’t equipped to help you solve this straight-forward problem. The medical folks, you went through hell by studying Anatomy, different systems in human body, dissecting animals and human bodies to learn the working and structure and don’t even get me started on nervous systems! But those things won’t come to your aid to solve this, will they?

But you can’t look like a fool now. You are a graduate after all. They say trials bring out the best in you. So, you first start looking to your left and right – not for help initially, but to see if anyone’s watching your misery. No one. So, it’s not worse than you think. You take a close look at the printer, just to check if you are missing something. The chord is connected. The printer is switched on. The maker’s logo is flashing on the small screen. Basic checks done. You look at the buttons they have on offer. You then try fiddling with the buttons, try tweaking the settings and then press start again. No response. To emphasize your frustration, you repeatedly press start again.

Now comes the “seeking help” phase. You start looking for friends / colleagues you know. Then someone walks by. You immediately look up to him as your Good Samaritan and ask him for his help. He smiles (not sure if he was smiling ‘at’ you or was that just a courtesy smile), looks at the printer, presses the start button (as if you haven’t done that already). He thinks for few seconds with a twisted expression on his face suggesting he is deep in thought and then says something that makes you feel so little that the solitary ant you saw near the printer suddenly looks like a giant Elephant ready to trample you under his feet. You sheepishly follow the advice and then the much-awaited printout comes out. You wonder how did you miss that basic electronic solution?

The advice – Restart the printer and check again! 

Next is what, Samsung?

Two is always better than once – because there’s an option to choose from. Three is better than two for the same reason and so on. More options is bound to make you happy and assuming adequate of time to shortlist and choose from, the customers are usually the happier lot compared to the sellers / manufacturers. Manufacturers join in the fun if they are new in the market / better than most of its competitors. 

But what happens when the Elephant in the room is cornered by relatively small yet hungry foxes? That’s what, I believe, is happening to a giant smartphone manufacturer – Samsung. You may love them or hate them, but cannot simply ignore their presence in the market. The last few years have seen them decline at a rather alarming rate. Samsung Galaxy S5 was supposed to be the game changer. But it simply changed the number from S4 to S5 with a few hardware and software add-ons. Samsung’s Note series was supposed to be their USP against their biggest competitor – Apple. But Apple negated that with iPhone 6 Plus. 

Now what? What is Samsung’s response to all that’s happening in the market? Galaxy S6? That’s not enough in my opinion. The problem lies in reading the market differently, also incorrectly, than competitors. If this trend continues even for a couple of years, Samsung will stand to experience the same fate as that of Sony Walkman / Dinosaur – extinction!

I have been a Samsung user for 6+ years now and know a thing or two about where Samsung is making it worse for the user. All is not lost, however. They can still make a comeback and strengthen their top spot in a market with a lot of new-comers. With some strategic decisions up top and a little tweak here and there, they will do themselves a world of good. And they have started shaking up things, starting from top management changes and discussions to shrink their portfolio. And that’s what I have tried to describe in the article I wrote for IdeasMakeMarket, a business website. Do read it and let me know your thoughts too. To read my article, click here.

You may have to register on the website to read the complete article. However, registering using Facebook is just a click away.

Decoding Future

Even wondered what the future looks like? Barely 20 years back, there wasn’t a device we knew that can call people physically far away from us. Now, that device is very much a necessity in our lives – smartphones. Smartphones have perforated through different classes in the society, irrespective of the economic status one has. Televisions have improved from a CRT to a plasma to an LCD to an LED and now what – a true HD? There was a huge gap between a desktop PC and a smartphone few years back, which is now crowded with ultra-thin laptops, palmtops, PDAs, Tablets and even large screen smartphones!

So, what’s next now? Can we have a smartphone that’s smart enough to decipher our mood using some signals that pass from our fingers to the phones when we touch the device and react accordingly? Just for discussions’ sake, imagine you are frustrated and you decide to fiddle with your smartphone, your smartphone senses it and suggests that you need to freshen up or else you can mess up your day by taking fighting with someone you care for or do something professionally that you will live to regret for the rest of your lives. Or imagine you are super-excited, your smartphones picks up your mood and suggest that you use your social media apps to share your happiness with your social world. 

Smartphones have advanced to such a level that it can analyse your health status accurately. I don’t think we are far away from a situation where your smartphone can act like your true friend in more ways than one. The problem comes when we take this “relationship” too far (something that I explored in this post). Recently, I watched two movies that address and explore similar ideas. I watched “Lucy” (review – movie’s OK, nothing great though) and “Transcendence” (review – movie’s OK, better than Lucy, worth watching once). 

“Lucy” explored the situation where we utilize more than the estimated 10% of our brain. There are theories that say we can be closer to the Almighty once we start utilizing more than, say, 80%, of our brain. These are theories though and are given based on certain assumptions / postulation. Movie shows a person can multitask at the rate of knots, control other people the way they want to or even (hold thy breath) travel across time and be a living testimony of the theory of evolution! Yeah they stretched it too far. But then, did they?

I saw “Transcendence” primarily for Johnny Depp and Christopher Nolan (producer). The movie has 2 areas which can either fascinate you or intimidate you NOT to watch the movie. One – uploading the conscience of a person onto a system and two – rapid regeneration of human organs and if I stretch it a little bit more, regeneration of a dead human! The movie smartly shows technology healing humans almost immediately, giving sight to a blind person, resurrection of the dead (ring any bells? clue – Bible). Man almost became God in this movie. Too stretched without rational reasoning, I feel. You start by supporting the research on artificial intelligence and end up going against the same. I, for one, don’t want man to take God’s place. 

But can all this really be a possibility in about 100+ years’ time? Technology is changing from being a boon to a bane. Technology has provided us with an efficient and a cost-effective way to provide electricity to all corners of the world – nuclear technology. But the same has provided us with deadly bombs that can not only kill the current generation but handicap with next generation as well! Make no mistake about it, we are in for exciting times! We will see more innovations that our previous generation but will also bear witness to more destruction.

Future is being decoded in two ways – beneficial and destructive. The side that wins this battle will decide the way forward / backward, whichever way you look at it.

What's the logic behind uploading compromising pics?

They say, a picture speaks a thousand words. And I agree. A picture or a photograph is taken primarily to relive those memories in the years to come. If you are visiting a well-known place, you take a picture. If you happen to visit a popular person, you take a picture. If there’s an occasion within family / social circles, you take lots of pictures. Then there are the professional lots – like wild-life photographers, news, media etc. It’s part of their profile to take pictures at the “opportune” moment, failing which their rivals will get more popularity and eye-balls. Then there are the amateur photographers – like me – who feel they are just one photo away from greatness! But we are a harmless lot and know what is appropriate and what is not. 

Off late, there have been a lot of security breaches on the cloud and lots and lots of personal pics have been hacked. It started with hacking of private cloud belonging to Apple which stored personal pics of celebrities. Among other pics, there were a lot of nude pics. If that didn’t teach us a lesson, news published a couple of days ago will shock regular users of a messaging application Snapchat. Snapchat differentiates itself from WhatsApp by deleting photos shared after a given timeline. This factor influenced users from across the globe to use Snapchat for purposes other than “social media”. Though most of the leaked pics from Snapchat were “harmless” in the sense that it contained low resolution selfies and showing off new stuffs, a small proportion of the leaked pics contained nude pics. 

So, what’s the deal with compromising pics? If we agree that we click for memories, I fail to understand what memory we are talking about in this situation. I am sure many will contradict me by saying it’s their smartphone, their body and they have all the right to do anything that’s not illegal or unlawful. I completely agree. My argument is with the sharing of the pics. I am not against users taking whatever pics they think they are comfortable with. One can take pics, delete it or keep it in your personal storage, but please don’t share / upload it. We are using a smartphone, lets at least live up to the smartphones expectation from a user (sic). 

My take on this is simple – use cloud or other sharing medium only to share pics that you feel will not compromise your integrity / social standing in the future. Private photos are supposed to remain just what it stands for – private. Hacking is an unfortunate event, but even in case of a hack your photos will remain harmless and don’t demean / degrade you in the society assuming you know what to upload and what to keep private. What we do with our smartphones / other devices are our own decision but once we decide to share / upload them, we are relying on external entities to protect you which will not always work. 

Whenever man comes up with a better mousetrap, nature immediately comes up with a better mouse. In other words, whenever technology comes up with a better security feature on the cloud, there are some who know how to breach it. Either they do it themselves (case in point: iCloud hack) or they exploit a loophole and inadvertently force users to do the needful (case in point: Snapchat hack).

Better safe than sorry. Use technology to your benefit and don’t simply delegate your responsibility of personal security to technology.

How will Android One benefit you?

Technology moves at a rapid pace in the telecommunication industry. Every now and then, a new smartphone is launched with a set of new features / set of apps. Smartphone brands have grown in the market so much that they have created different brand-names for phones of different price-points. So, a Samsung has a Galaxy series (as their flagship), a Note series (for large sizes). Same is the case for Sony and LG. Apple launches a smartphone once every year and it's always a big talking point in the telecom circles. Apple lovers admire the new features, critics wait for something bad to happen with Apple and then start raising their voice - a recent example is the Apple #BendGate and issues with iOS version 8.0.1.

One more news caught the eye of the market and that was the launch of Android One from Google. And to make matters more interesting, it was launched first in India! I guess leading players have started realizing the hidden potential of the Indian market! Apple needs to follow the trend, and hopefully they will. 

But what is "Android One"? Is it a new version of Android? Is it a new Android Phone? Is it a new initiative by Google? And if it is, why has Google taken the pain to release it? And why start with India? Is Google the only one impacted (positively and negatively) by the launch of Android One? Will it be beneficial to Indian smartphone manufacturers or will it eliminate them from the market? How will the Samsung's of the world take it? How will the players with negative impact retaliate?

I have tried addressing these questions in the business article I wrote for IdeasMakeMarket.com. Please check it out if you are interested in knowing the business side of "Android One". And do let me know your thoughts. Cheers!

Click here to read - "Android One - What's in it for Google and Co.?"

Can you really fall in love with "HER"?

Disclaimer: If you have visited this page thinking that I am going to reveal everything about my past / present / secret / "what-nots" with an actual woman, gotcha! This post is about the movie "HER" and contemplating the possibilities of this scenario actually happening in real life.

Short review of the movie - "HER"

"HER" is a movie where the protagonist falls in love with an OS. Yes, I know, it sounds awkward and ridiculous. But watch the movie completely before you make a judgement. Its a futuristic movie in terms of technology. Talking to your machine while it records everything correctly with punctuation is the norm. The hero (Joaquin Phoenix, awesome) of the movie is passing through a painful divorce. One day he overhauls his existing OS (Operating System) with a new one with Artificial Intelligence. He goes ahead and discovers that the OS has a voice - male / female. He chooses the female voice. The concept of the OS is to understand the user and evolve the intellectual capability accordingly. She (since the voice is feminine) is just like a personal assistant who can help clean up everything that's remotely digital. The protagonist starts understanding the OS and vice versa and this develops into a relationship which neither can avoid. Then some cracks arise (akin to a real human relationship) and the way they sort it out and then eventually the climax (revealing it will spoil everything). I personally found the movie intense, "A" rated, emotional, sensitive and completely based on justifiable situations. Kudos to the director (Spike Jonze) to come up with a concept like this and actually making it work! The only negative aspect of the movie was the length (2+ hrs). The emotions displayed are so stretched to make this movie into a semi-art film. However, a movie worth watching.

Now the question - Can this really happen? Can you really love "HER"? Can anyone fall in love with an OS?

Your immediate answer would be a resounding "NO". This is bizarre to say the least. I agree with you, I felt the same way too. But then don't you think that a lot of things happening in this world are actually bizarre? Don't you think we are slowing moving towards anticipating such a relation to happen somewhere in this world. Isn't the technology moving towards making our gadgets more human with emotional feel? Samsung tagged one of their mobile as a phone with a "human touch" and "Life Companion". Nokia allows users to "dress up" their devices with various colors giving it a distinct persona. Even my device (Galaxy S3) knows what I am searching in Google (using Google Now app) and suggests me options based on my search. I don't even need to search on my device, I can search on my laptop or any other device in this world provided I am logged in to Google. You can call it intrusion, but you won't deny the fact that its actually a personal touch. I mean, my phone knows what I am looking for and is trying to help me out. Isn't the movie an extension to what's currently happening in this world?

We humans have a tendency to share our emotions with others - be it happy, sad, elation, nervousness etc. The "others" I mentioned are usually considered as humans / God. That someone can be a family member / friend / even a stranger. Just a walk in the park will convince you that most of us are interacting with their gadgets - listening to radio / playing games / chatting on messaging apps / talking. There's an headset always attached as if its actually a part of the human body. Now consider this - what if the device starts talking to you and helping you use the gadget better / rearrange your life better? Isn't that possible? In that case, wouldn't you be more inclined to share your feelings with the device? After all, you are always with your device 24*7 even if the same duration doesn't apply to your close ones.

The world was intended to be a place where we interact with fellow humans and share the best practices to live a happy and safe life. Then gadgets emerged primarily as a need to interact with people not physically present near us. Dependence on gadgets have increased to such a level now that we don't even need humans around us. Gadgets have actually replaced humans. That's where this movie is relevant. As much as I hate to say this, I strongly feel we are just a decade or two away from such a relationship to emerge. And when it does emerge, we will only have ourselves to blame.

We Came, WeChat, we Conquered!

One Saturday evening. One lazy Saturday evening. I lay there, resting on my couch with nothing much to do. Feels like conquering the world, but that's not the case here. Facebook seems to be dead since no one is online. Twitter users are busy promoting a hashtag without knowing what it means. A popular chat app has become a paid app in android after one year and hence most of my chat friends have deactivated it. Television is busy showing a dubbed South Indian movie for like the (n+1)th time. No Soccer too. There's some breaking news going on and the news anchor is screaming at the top of his voice, "The nation wants to know.." I wonder which part of the nation he is referring to! I cannot even sleep as the government / municipalities are busy digging the road with their long cranes just before the rains (nothing new here too).

Unable to bear the boredom, I opened the "Play Store" in my Android smartphone to see if there's anything new and exciting and bingo - I found a new app that's trending. It's called - WeChat.

It seemed fascinating. I installed the app. The moment installation and the basic registration process was done, guess what happened. I got an immediate "Hi" from one of my contacts. The world know him as - "Joker". Knowing how crazy the guy is, he immediately added few members and before I know what's happening there were 6 members and we were in a group chat!

The participants were -

• The Joker, of course 
• "Captain" Jack Sparrow
• News Presenter "AG"
• A 'not-so-santh' Cricketer
• Anonymous Indian Politician
• Yours truly

And this is how the group chat went - 

News Presenter "AG": Ladies and gentlemen, we have with us some of the well known personalities from this world and also out of this world. Let me introduce them to you..

Joker: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We are tonight’s entertainment! Well, you look nervous. Is it the scars? You want to know how I got ‘em? By the way, where's the lady we are talking about?

AG: Let's not deviate from the topic here, Joker. I assure you, you will get your chance to write. Today, the nation wants to know the inside story of spot fixing in the popular cricket league! We have with us one of the prominent personalities from the world of spot fixing - Mr. Cricketer! So, let me start with you, the nation wants to know how did you do it? 

Cricketer: Well, you know I am a technology freak. For communication with the bookies, I used different chatting apps. The police tracked them down and now I have changed the app!

AG: My only question to you tonight is WHY? WHY did you do it?

Joker: If you’re good at something, never do it for free.

Cricketer: Right. I agree with Joker here. 

AG: Yes, thanks Joker. That's what I was getting at. Let me bring in another participant here - anonymous politician, who doesn't want to be named. Sir, what's your take on this? 

Politician: The matter is sub-judice. I would not be able to comment on this. But I will say the opposition is involved here. There's no doubt about that. 

AG: But that's not the topic we want to discuss here sir. That's the next topic. This is about spot fixing.  

Me (finally): Is this really "The Joker". Huge fan of yours sir! I must tell you I have seen your movie a zillion times and felt sad when you apparently died.

AG: Once again we are deviating from the topic gentlemen. Let me bring me Mr. Jack Sparrow into this discussion..

Captain Jack Sparrow (using the voice chat option in WeChat): "Captain" Jack Sparrow. Why do people always forget to include "Captain"? 

AG: Of course, Captain.  

Me: Am I dreaming? 

AG: One participant at a time, please. So Captain, are you there on the group chat? 

Captain (voice message): Aye.. 

AG: Ok. Captain, why do you think the authorities took so long to catch the culprits? 

Captain (voice message): If they were waiting for the opportune moment, that was it.. 

AG: Do you think there are others involved in the conspiracy too? Any women you think? Where are they? 

Captain (voice message): She’s safe, just like I promised. She’s all set to marry Norrington, just like she promised. And you get to die for her, just like you promised. So we’re all men of our word really… except for, of course, Elizabeth, who is in fact, a woman. 

AG: No. I didn't make any promises Captain. I am not sure what you are discussing.. Moving on.. Coming back to Joker.. 

Joker: Oh, you. You just couldn’t let me go, could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You are truly incorruptible, aren’t you? Huh? You won’t kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness. And I won’t kill you because you’re just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever. 

AG: So what's your plan Joker to catch all the culprits involved? For once, be honest and reveal your plans in front of the nation.. 

Joker: Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just… do things. 

AG: I have no idea what you are trying to imply here. Let me bring in ME who's just raised his hand to speak. ME, go on.. 

ME: Joker and Captain Jack Sparrow together. This seems like a dream in a dream. Is this Inception all over again? 

AG: This is reality, my friend! Reality. Gentlemen, we are running out of time. Final comments. Captain, you go first..

Captain (voice message): This is the day you will always remember as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow! 

Captain Jack Sparrow leaves the group chat. 

AG: I believe we have lost the link. Anyways, Cricketer. You are next..

Cricketer: I am being framed. I would like to reach out to millions, no sorry, 100's of my fans, actually 10's of my fans to support me through this. I will come out clean, I promise. 

Politician: The opposition is behind this. Opposition is playing dirty politics.

Joker: How about a magic trick? I’m gonna make this pencil my profile disappear. Ta-daaa! It’s.. it’s gone. 

Joker leaves the group chat.  

Me: Is this really a dream? 

AG: Thank you gentlemen for your participation. We will be tracking this event 24*7 live only on your news channel (thinking that this is actually his news channel). Coming up next are the advertisements that make us earn our millions. Stay tuned.

As we all know, nothing really comes out of such discussions. But my Saturday evening was well and truly worth it! What the participants said in this group chat on WeChat platform are their trademark statements and it's precisely this reason why I wanted them in this chat.

We came, WeChat and We Conquered!

PS: This post is part of a contest run by WeChat and IndiBlogger.

PS (again): This post was one of the Runner-ups in the contest. Thank you guys! God Bless!

And the award for Best Google Reader alternative goes to..

Couple of months back, I woke up to realize that Google guys have decided to discontinue Google Reader - my personalized news reader with all the RSS feeds I have subscribed to. My anguish is well documented here. It also contained the RSS feeds of my favorite blogs and that, for me, was the only way to stay connected to fellow blogger friends around the way (ofcourse, Facebook and Twitter were also the means, but here I wanted to dramatize the situation).

That's when realization dawned on me that I have no other option but to replace my beloved Reader with able alternatives. If you do a simple Google search using the terms "Google Reader Alternatives", you will get  a plethora of replacement tools! The most popular one is Feedly. And that was, for me, an straightforward solution since its easier to go with the flow. And yes, it is an able alternative too - if you want to access your daily dose of RSS updates at your home or on your smartphone. There are certain apps / externsions that you need to download and your account is ready in seconds. Not to mention, your google reader data can be easily imported to Feedly. Also popular among netizens was Flipboard that provides similar features to feedly, but with a better magazine like interface. Good options.

But that's not what I selected!

You see, my requirements were different. All the features mentioned above were fascinating and will enhance my experience. But my basic need was to have a web alternative. I used Google Reader wherever I went to. My home, my friends home, my office, my smartphone - any system that can access the internet. Feedly and Flipboard did not have that option. So I had to look elsewhere.

Cut to the chase - I shortlisted 3 alternatives that had web interface like Google Reader. Android app / extensions is always a bonus for me. Here are my nominations - 

• Good Noows (link)
• News Blur (link)
• InoReader (link)

All the three mentioned above has similar feature set with minor differences here and there. Personally, I loved News Blur for its look and feel, but guess what, its not free anymore! Damn, I never thought I will have to shell out money (in dollars) to access my subscribed feeds. I admit, I was shocked when Google decided to terminate Google Reader, but it doesn't mean I need to pay to get a better alternative! Hence, News Blur is hereby disqualified. 

I tried Good Noows for sometime. You have a lot of options there to change the look and feel of the reader interface and its quite satisfactory. Inoreader is something I found recently and it looks very similar to Google Reader in the look-n-feel and feature department. Registration is also easy for Good Noows and Inoreader and you can directly import your google reader feeds. Once, its done, you are ready to go. So both are equally good.

My winner - InoReader! Maybe its the nostalgia factor that decided the winner. Its Google Reader with a different identity.

Notable mentions -  "The Old Reader" and "CommaFeed" if you need a web interface. Else, Feedly and Flipboard are the best!

PS: This post is not intended to be a feature by feature comparison to select the best reader alternative. I have found two that suits my requirements. Do let me know what you have selected as your Google Reader Alternative.

Why Google, why?

I love going through the latest news articles across the areas of my interest everyday in the morning. Now there are various ways I can do it. Any and every news websites segregate news into World, Politics, Sports, India, Mumbai et al. But not all sections are having quality news feed and editorials / analysis. This forced me to have a single area where I can get all the news and I can browse them based on what I feel like reading at that point in time. News aggregators and readers are one of the ways you can do it. And being a Google fan, Google Reader is the first product that I checked. No point in guessing I loved it and use it every day - multiple times. It's like my second email.

For someone like me who loves the product, its features and the clean interface, it came as a shock to me when Google decided to pop up this message when I logged on to Google Reader on 14th March -

This is what Google had to say in its official blog:

We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.

The reason provided is it that the users have reduced in the last few years and hence it makes more sense for Google to discontinue Google Reader and concentrate on products with a mass appeal. It surely makes sense from a business perspective. But don't you think Google is potentially compromising its loyal customer base it has? It's a risk which, I guess, Google is ready to take.

RIP Google Reader. Your loyal fans will miss you.

Anyways, there are many readers available in the market - some as good as Google Reader and some even better. Time for me to explore new products and I have 3 months to decide.

Suggestions are always welcome.

Google now wants us to make our own 'Luck'.. And rightly so..

All good things come to an end... for better things in life --> goes a saying. It's true not only in our personal life, but also in technology. When we accept a newer (and supposedly better) technology, most of us discard and completely ignore the previous technology. But there are some who become emotionally attached to a particular feature and continue using it, come what may.

Google is known for innovations. Every now and then, they come up with features that help us search better on the net. In short, they make our life (if searching takes up substantial hours every day) simpler. They have their experimental features (labs), they modify their search algorithms every now and then to offer quality search results. They also remove certain features for new and improved ones. One such (speculative) example is that of "I'm Feeling Lucky". This feature is missing in the new homepage released by Google in Finland.

What is 'I'm feeling Lucky'?

When we search for anything in google, we are given two options - one is generic search and the other one is the feeling lucky feature. The 'feeling lucky' feature will redirect you to the first webpage in the search. Most of us have a habit of typing in a keyword and hitting enter. Only 1% of all the searches go through the 'I'm feeling Lucky' feature. It's a great feature to have if you know you will be directed to the webpage you want.

Why should Google discontinuing the feature?

1. Google Instant: Google instant, as the name suggests, is a feature that gives you instant results. How? When you enter your search keyword in Google's homepage, you will immediately be directed to the search results even if you haven't completed entering the keywords. It actually looks like the next wave of innovation in internet search industry. You seem there are two key ways in which you can differentiate your search  vis-a-vis competition. One is the turn-around time and the other is quality results. Google has hit the nail on the head by improving the turn-around time with 'instant'. Now, if you have activated Google Instant, you will never be lucky enough to click the 'I'm feeling Lucky' button. Why have it then?
2. Advertising: Many of us know that Google earns revenue through advertisements. They rent out ad space to companies and when a similar word is being searched by any user, their client's ad is shown and is ethically demarcated in the search results. This is where the 'feeling lucky' feature will lose out. If we are using this feature, we are bypassing all the adverts shown in the search result, thereby disallowing google to earn revenue out of it. According to this site, Google is losing around $110 million in revenue every year. Hence, it makes financial sense to do away with the feature that only '1 in every 100' uses.

If Google is actually removing the 'feeling lucky' feature, then "Bye Bye - 'I'm feeling Lucky".. One percent of the Google search population (who are emotionally attached to this feature) will miss you...

Anyways, the youth of today believes in having more options and taking a calculated risk thereby making their own luck. Guess what, through the 'instant' feature, Google is only aiding us in the process !!