Google's Changing Personality Amol Mategaonkar10:15 AM 4 comments

I am not sure if you have observed this, but recently Google added a small new feature to the legendary http://www.google.com/ page. The change might look very subtle, but it indicates a major shift from the very fundamental principle of UI Design that google is known for - minimalistic design. I have no clue why google has done this. Let me explain.

The Classical Way

Google is known for its simplicity in User Interface (UI) design. Its UIs are easy to use, intuitive and free of clutter. The best example of this is http://www.google.com/ The world's most visited website just had a google logo, a text box and two buttons - "Google Search" and "I am Feeling Lucky". Over a period of time Google added links to other google applications such as News, Image Search, YouTube, Orkut, Photos and so on in addition to some language options. It even added a feature last year where all these options and links are hidden by default and get enabled only when you move the mouse a little.

The story has it that when the google founders created google, they didn't know HTML coding and they created a very simple design which they could code. Over the period of time that became the signature design of google. Just a plain white background, google logo and a text box with two buttons. I loved it. Millions loved it the world over. However, Google just lost it... well almost.

The New Option

Recently google added a new link towards the left side bottom of google.com. It reads "Change Background Image". You need to sign-in with your google ID in order to use this feature. What this allows you to do is that you can either upload your own image or select from an existing set of publicly available images that you can set as background to your google.com home page. The image shows up in the background whenever you use google.com anywhere in the world.

Issues

The classical plain white simplistic design has been googl's signature. I am not sure about the motivation for this feature. Somehow I feel, this is a step away from its own legacy. There are some challenges with it as well. The user can really shoot herself in the feet. Try uploading an image that is too small or too big to fit your screen. It messes up the entire look. Second issue is with the logo. Since google can not predict the image color scheme, it has made the logo transparent white. This is again a big deviation from the signature multi-color design of google logo. Thirdly, if you upload a heavy image, it makes the loading of the page slow. Google is known for its speed. Its the most reliable and fast website in the world. A heavy background can make it slow.

Copy Cat???

Did google find motivation for this feature in Microsoft's bing? The way Plain background has been the signature design for Google, beautiful background images has been the key design principle of Microsoft's new search engine - http://www.bing.com/ I love that as well. It has a slightly different approach and does not have any of the issues relating to googl's approach that I mentioned above. Every day it has a new, rich quality background image, showing some famous place in the world. It also provides some useful info about it on mouse over. It does not allow user-uploaded images. The user can not shoot in her feet. When it was introduced last year, this looked new and fresh. Many who used it, loved it.. including me. However, was this the motivation for the new feature in google? I hope not.

I hope the biggest innovator on the Internet didn't have to copy it from Microsoft and had some other inspiration that I am not aware of.

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You are being watched.... by Facebook Amol Mategaonkar7:07 AM 0 comments

Facebook has been the punching bag of the security and privacy advocates for ever. No wonder the movie on facebook, "The Social Effect" has the tag line "When you make 500 million friends, you are bound to make enemies". The biggest criticism for facebook has been that it knows too much about us and there are concerns about security and privacy of this data. Usual response to this criticism is that this is social media and if you are so concerned about privacy, don't share it. I was convinced with this argument until recently when I figured out, there are things which you don't explicitly share, but eventually reach facebook. Here is an example where you need to be aware that facebook is watching you. Many, won't know. I didn't.

Background
Recently, facebook introduced Social Plugins. These are facebook components that any website in the world could embed in their own webpage to provide social networking features through facebook. Examples are - "share on facebook", "like" button, friend list, comments, etc. This requires that the visitor has logged-in to facebook, may be through another browser window or tab. If a website ebmbeds the facebook "like" button on its webpage, the visitors of the website will be able click on "like" button (very similar to you like videos, photos, status messages etc on facebook itslef). This will result into an update on your Wall that you liked that link. This is good. I have no problems with this.
I have a problem with what it does next. Read on.

The Use Case
Follow the steps below.

1. Login to facebook.
2. Go to any article on Times Of India. Say this one.
3. Look at the bottom. You will see this facebook plugin - "Recommend".
   

   

4. If you observe closely, it also tells you if any of your friends have recommended this. In my case it says "Be the first of your friends to recommend this."

What happens in the background?

If you imagine the logic of this, the code snippet from facebook that TOI would have embedded in this page would have sent this info to facebook that amol has visited so and so URL, and in-return asked if anybody from amol's friends recommended this URL? In my case facebook returned none.

The Issue

This is scary. I just happened to be logged in to facebook in some another browser window and without even checking with me, the plugin sent the info to facebook that I visited Times of India - this article. I hate this. I didn't choose to add/enable this plugin to TOI. It did not check with me and peacefully sent the info to facebook that I visited this page. If you don't observe carefully, you would not even see the facebook plugin amidst the clutter on the site. Thankfully facebook didn't put it on my wall , but mind well... it knows that you visited it.

I do share a lot of info on facebook.com through my wall.... my status, photos, videos, links, etc. However, there I do it conciously.... by choice. Here, I never chose to do it. I don'thave option to turn it off either. Forget it, I didn't even know it did all this.

Simple Advise

Log off from facebook after you are done. Don't keep yourself logged in through out the day. Be aware that you are being watched.

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K for Kishore Amol Mategaonkar10:44 PM 0 comments

Yesterday was the 81st birth anniversary of arguably the most versatile legends of Hindi Film and Music Industry - Kishore Kumar. Here's homage to him in remebrance of his birth day. The man who was bestowed with the responsibility to spread happyness, to make the common man laugh inspite of his sorrows, to fall in love with his unique "harkaten" and to cherish those unlimited melodies for generations to come, will always remain close to the hearts of all Indians for generation to come.

Abhas Kumar, who came to Mumbai industry as a frequent visitor to his then already-star brother - Ashok Kumar (Dada Munee) did some acting stint to start with, changed his name to Kishore Kumar (Did numerology exist prior to Ekta Kapoor?) and went on to become the numero-uno playback singer of the 70s and 80s. Here are a few interesting and exceptional thoughts about him.

One of the Best Ever - Without a formal training
Kishore Da was initially dismissed for his first singing assignment because he did not have any formal training in Music. At a time when classically trained singers dominated the playback singing, it was pure talent and creativity that KK more than compensated for his lack of formal training. The same music director - Salil Choudhary - who was dismissive of him for his first assignment, gave us some of the best gems of KK in years to come.
Inspite of not trained in music, Kishore Da had amazing perfection in his singing. You would never hear a flat note from him, inspite of all his "harkaten" which he used to do even in the studios while recording the song. He was a gifted man. Gifted with a voice that was devine.... one that would touch the soule. Although he harldy sang classical based songs (like Rafi, Manna Da), he had surgical precision in all of his songs.

Versatility
He is possibly the most versatile singer we have seen ever since the Hindi Music Industy was born in the last century. Close to him will be Asha Bhosale. Right from romance, comedy, love, sorrow, philosophy, devotion... KK has it all covered on his portfolio. His versatility not only crossed the boundaries of genre, it crossed genders as well. He is possibly the only one who has sung a duet himself. "Aake Seedhi Lagi Dilpe" was supposed to be sung by him and Lata Didi. Since Lata Didi could not come at the 11th hr, he sang in lady voice as well - with no help from technology by the way.
Apart from classical based songs, Kishore Da is also lesser known for Devotional songs. Although he has sung many of the devotional songs right from his start of the career right upto Swami Dada in late 80s, this genre remained the core competence of Rafi. Nevertheless, many of his devotional songs do touch your soul, although they might not be popular as "Roop tera mastana".

Creativity - Yoodleeyooo
KK gave us something that noone could ever imagine. The Yoodling. Perhaps this was his way to compensate for his lack of classical training and inability to sing a classical based song. With this, he created something that none of his contemporaries like Rafi, Manna Da could sing. "Main hoon zum zum Zumroo" is the most yoodled song ever and even today remains the best test of a "KK Style" singer.
He was born with the gift of creativity. The story of how he managed Asha's fumbling in "Piya piya piya" is well known. One of his best funny song, "Meri pyari bindu" from Padosan was his instant creation on the sets while shooting. It wasn't planned earlier - added later to the music album of Padosan.

Beyond Music

KKs versatility extended beyond Music into Films as well. Actor, Producer, Director, Music Director, Editor. Are there any other roles remaining? He did everything. Apart from singing, he is second-best known as a comedian. Who can forget the "Guru Vidyapati" of Padosan ? Apart from acting, he produced 18 films. Sadly only 8 saw the light of the day. Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Door Gagan ki Chhaon mein, Zuumroo are some of his best known films.

The Serious Kishor... Seriously???

Many close to him say that although on the face of it he looked vary funny, jovial and full of humor, somewhere within, there lived an extremely serious person. This shows up in the soul he put in his serious songs like "Dukhi man mere". In many of his films, his style was completely different than the comedian persona which he was known for. Look at "Door Gagan Ki Chhaon mein". A story of a soldier and his son. Many say that these films were his way to vent out that personality of him.

Inspiring Generations

Kishore Da has inspired generations of singers. Many have made thier careers after him by imitating him. Kumar Sanu (Duplicate), Babul Suprio (Duplicate ki Xerox Copy), et al. It is sad that many of them do not acknowledge this fact after becoming a star. However, an imitation after all, remains an imitation. There has been no equivalent of him even after decades when he left us. Recently, there was a kind of remix of "Bachna aye haseenon" in the movie with the same title (staring Ranbeer Kapoor). Listen to it carefully. There are original lines by KK initially and then new lines are sung by a new comer. The difference is evident. Even with today's technology, KK stands out.

Kishore Da, you will always remain alive in our hearts forever. Your music is the only refuge amidst the chaos and noisy numbers dominant in the music industry today. I only wish we had more of you.

Hope you rest in peace.

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