Google Voice

I am thinking that I should start giving out my google voice number from now on. But something just stops me from doing that. I don't want google to be able to listen my phone conversations also. As if email, calendar, orkut, reader and gtalk was not enough.

Summer is over

Another summer is gone. I think this summer was somewhat productive. Was able to submit papers to infocom. Not sure if they will be accepted or not. Since I started my PhD three years ago, I have just one publication and this is not good. Lets see what happens.

This is just Nuts !!!

Okay, so I wast stuck in Jammu, India for about 3 months due to Visa issues... yeah.. And like that was not enough... microsoft decided to delete all my email from my hotmail Inbox because I did not login for 2 months.. This is crazy.. That was the first email account I created about 8-9 years ago, and there were some emails in that account that I .. just... did .... not... want ... to ... loose.. I stopped using that account long time back... but just kept it because of those emails.. 

I know, I should have forwarded those to my gmail or vt account.. or atleast should have backed them up... but it never crossed my mind that microsoft could do something that STUPID.. I am furious.

Google Services

From last few weeks, Gmail and sometimes google.com are going offline or giving an error message of "service not available at the moment". I needed a document that I could see in my gmail inbox as an attachement but could not download it. It was also on my hard-drive as it was an important document. This makes me wonder if I can ever switch entirely to gmail. I know few people who rely completely on gmail even for their important emails and documents. I am not sure now that I even want to export my iCal to google calendar anymore. Who knows when it becomes "not available" and skips to send me an alarm for something important. Atleast my iCal will never miss some event.

Web without Adblock

From last 2 weeks, I have been surfing without adblock. I have to agree that web looks quite different. But, I think I am fine without adblock, especially because a lot of sites rely on ads for their survival.
Oh, and google reader is now my favorite rss reader. It just rocks, specially on my ipod Touch.

Problems with google

Okay, from last few days google is having some issues. Lot of google site (e.g. reader) are just not loading. I just love google reader, but unless it works all the time (yes ALL the time), I might move on to some other rss reader. I have yet to find another one as useful as google reader though. So, for the time being I am just stuck with it.

ipod touch and Amex rewards

American Express charges approx. 48000 reward points for a ipod touch 16GB model

1) Do not buy ipod touch 16 GB from Amex rewards.
2) Instead, buy $300 Nike gift cards from Amex rewards for 30,000 points.
3) Use these $300 Nike gift cards at nikestore.com to buy a new ipod touch 16GB.
4) .....
5) Profit