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Google can eat your email

Published Jan 16, 2007 | In Google/Yahoo

When I talked about the reliability of user data in the web 2.0 style websites, I asked you to just imagine what might happen if you loose all you email from Gmail. But indeed it has happened to few people. Here are few links from reliable sources

Oh my god! I just cannot imagine this happening to me. More over it seems that Google doesn’t retain a copy of your email once you delete it due to privacy issues. This means that there is very little chance that your email can be restored. All say that the solution is to back up you email. But how to back up my 1.5 GB of email? 🙁

Posted in Google/Yahoo | Tagged , | 7 Comments

How safe is your data?

Published Jan 15, 2007 | In Google/Yahoo, Random/Personal

One of the things which shocked me when I came out of my hiding period is the sudden disappearance of Performancing Metrics. As you have guessed by now, I was using it here to have an understanding of how my users use my site.

Performancing was recently acquired by PayPerPost and they couldn’t get the deal right with Metrics. This has made them to stop the hosting of Metrics service and have decided to release the code as open source, which may take some time. So the net result is that now I am left without a Stats package 😉

Don’t get me wrong here. I am not here to criticize or accuse Performancing or PayPerPost. Metrics was a great product and I was one among the thousands of happy customers they had. It was totally free and was completely invisible on the page, since you don’t need to display a graphics or a back link on your site. They were not deleting the old data (as most stats services do) and the stats were also private. But what concerns me is that I have lost all the valuable stats data which was recorded till now by the service. Worst still, according to the comment by Nick, there is no way for me to export the stats data out of the system. 🙁

Now the question which has popped up in my mind is “How safe is my data?” with the other (web 2.0) websites. So just for a wild imagination, what happens if Google gets dissolved or bought up like Performancing or goes bankrupt (Just imagine). My (digital) life may come to a standstill without access to my email (gmail) and schedules (Calendar). And what if the same fate happens to Yahoo, I will loose all my bookmarks (del.icio.us), my old emails (Yahoo Mail), my photos (flickr and Yahoo photos) etc. Well, it gets too shocking. Isn’t it? 🙁 Worst still what happens if they say, pay $XXX to get access to your data?

This leaves me with lot of questions and also with some shock. But back to the original problem, now I have to look out for a new Metrics/Stats package. I am not able to decide whether I have to go for a 3rd party package (like Feedburner, Google Analytics etc) or install my own copy in my server (like Mint, Analog, Awstats etc). Guys do you have any recommendations?

Posted in Google/Yahoo, Random/Personal | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

My New Year resolutions

Published Jan 11, 2007 | In Random/Personal

Well, yet another year has come and it’s time to take a second look at your life and make some resolutions. (and whether I really follow them throughout the year is another major questions anyways 😉 )

And here are some of my New Year resolutions (some of them are in my to-do list for quite some time now) and lets hope that I keep them up 🙂

  • My reading habit has gone down very much, so first resolution – Read at least a book every month (novels don’t count).
  • Learn a new language (or technology) – 2004 in was PHP, 2005 made me to (re)learn JavaScript for AJAX, 2006 it was Python and 2007 it is going to be Ruby.
  • Redesign this site for May 1st CSS Reboot.
  • Start (or at least take part in) an open source project – it’s time to give back something to the community.
  • Try to do some freelance work – Does anybody need a WordPress consultant? 😉
  • Buy Apple iPhone – (How about a PayPal donate button here for you guys to donate ha ha 😉 )

So guys, what are your resolutions?

Posted in Random/Personal | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

I am back

Published Jan 9, 2007 | In Random/Personal

Hi guys, I AM BACK 😉

I am perfectly alright now and seeing the computer screen with my own eyes without the help of my specs or contact lens. It’s really a great feeling since I was wearing the specs for the past 17 years and the contact lens for the past 8 years.

My heartful thanks to Yuvi, Vadivel, Aswin, David and all the my readers who showed their support by either sending me an email or posting a comment in my previous post or calling me up to find out about my health. It’s really a nice feeling to know that there is some one to really care about you. :-).

So guys, you could see this blog getting updated frequently as it used to be. But I am yet to catch up with my email and if you have sent me an email, please bear with me and I will send you a reply as soon as possible.

And wish you guys a happy and prosperous 2007.

Posted in Random/Personal | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Under the cover for the next 3 weeks

Published Dec 19, 2006 | In Random/Personal

Well guys, I am going to be under the covers for the next couple of weeks. I am having a surgery in my eyes tomorrow and so will be off from computer and internet (may be) for another 2-3 weeks. 🙁

I have been advised by doctors not to look at a computer screen for at least 2 weeks. So there will not be any update on this blog and also if you are sending me an email, don’t be expecting an immediate reply now. I will be reading it only after I come back. So bear with me till then.

Mean while I will ask Yuvi to keep you guys updated about my condition. I will probably ask him to post the updates as comments for this blog entry. So keep checking it 😉

And if you want to contact me during this period either leave a comment in this blog entry or send me an email. You can get my email address from my contacts page.

I still don’t know how I am going to kill time in the coming weeks. I have collected a bunch of books to read during this time. I guess my black little cuttie will also be of some help.

I am going to miss you guys and meet you all after 3 weeks. And in the words of Arnold, I WILL BE BACK 😉

Posted in Random/Personal | Tagged , | 12 Comments

Took one more beta exam (71-445) today

Published Dec 14, 2006 | In Certifications

Today, I took one more beta exam and this time it was from Microsoft. The exam I took was 71-445 (Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence – Implementation and Maintenance), one of the two beta exams on SQL Server 2005 provided by Microsoft.

When compared with my other exam that I took early this week, this one was quite easy. Totally there were 70 questions and the time given was 210 minutes. Since it is a beta exam I will be getting my results only after 6-8 weeks.

So is there any one else who is sharing a similar story? 😉

Posted in Certifications | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Took SCBCD 5.0 yesterday

Published Dec 13, 2006 | In Certifications

I took the SCBCD 5.0 beta exam yesterday. Man! It was very tough and I struggled a lot to finish it.

I have worked very little in EJB (as part of my day job) and had only a theoretical knowledge of EJB and the concept behind them. More over there were lot of questions about the new and changed features in EJB 3.0 and I was not prepared well for that. I used the excellent notes by Mikalai for my preparation and also skimmed through Head First EJB but that wasn’t enough :-(. If any of you are planning to take it then make sure that you prepare well before taking up the exam.

It had 180 questions and the time allocated was 300 minutes (5 hours) and since it is a beta exam I have to wait for another 6-8 weeks to get my score card. There were also a couple of Task oriented questions in addition to the usual objective type questions.

So is it just me who found this exam to be tough or is there any one else who also felt the same way. If you have taken up the exam then do let me know.

Posted in Certifications | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Two new Beta exams from Microsoft

Published Dec 3, 2006 | In Certifications

Good news for those who are planning for Microsoft SQL Server certification. Microsoft is introducing two new beta exams for SQL Server 2005.

  • Exam 71-445: TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence – Implementation and Maintenance
  • Exam 71-446: PRO: Designing a Business Intelligence Infrastructure by Using Microsoft SQL Server 2005

For the first exam 71-445 the last date is December 19, 2006 and for the second exam 71-446 the last date is January 3, 2007.

As always these beta exams are completely free and if you clear them you will get the certificates.

Normally Microsoft beta exams are not available in India, but it seems that these two exams are available in India also. Contact your nearest prometric center and register for them as soon as possible because only a few seats are available.

All the best guys.

Posted in Certifications | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

How to keep my Bookmarks in Sync?

Published Nov 25, 2006 | In Random/Personal

At last I found time to install the latest version of the major browsers (Firefox 2.0, IE 7.0 and Opera 9.02). I know I am missing Safari but I am on PC and am not talking about MAC here.

Well you may ask me why all three, but being a web developer you need to test your web pages not in your favorite browser alone but in all browsers (in major browsers at least)

Firefox was my favorite browser for at least a year now and have been using only that for my browsing. I have all my bookmarks in that. But after seeing IE 7 I have decided to use it as well. (Ok Yuvi, I could see a spark in your eyes. 😉 ) But now the real question is where should I store my bookmarks? I am not yet ready to dump Firefox totally so I need to share my bookmarks across both of them.

So right now I have two problems with my bookmarks:

First, I need a solution so that I can share my bookmarks with IE and Firefox (and with Opera if possible). Let me be clear here, I specifically don’t want to use a web based (social) book marking service like del.icio.us. What I need is a simple solution/software which runs in my local system and syncs my bookmarks with the different browser.

Second, once I find a solution to sync my bookmarks in my personal computer I then need to keep it sync with my work computer (Am I expecting too much?). I need something like Google Browser Sync, but I will be happy if I could store them in my own server instead of their servers.

So guys if you have a solution / suggestion / software to my above two problems then do let me know. I am still googling and if I come up with a solution I will share it here.

Posted in Random/Personal | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments