Renie Ravin | Founder of IndiBlogger.in - on Web Design, Photography, Advertising

Is Google making the same mistakes that Microsoft made with IE?

Renie Ravin — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:22:15 +0000

For years now, users have been griping about Microsoft bundling their web browser with Windows. By doing so, users were never compelled to install a browser – why go about selecting the best one when my pc came with one installed? Microsoft was blamed for monopolizing the market, using the popularity of Windows to make Internet Explorer the dominant force.

Google does not have a product like Windows (yet!) but they do have their web properties which are used by millions of people. I was just surfing youtube, on the latest version of Opera and I saw this:

Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t they doing the same thing by nagging me when I surf one of their websites? Also, “new web browser”? Does that mean my browser is outdated?

The same message shows up in Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox.

Experiments with HDR

Renie Ravin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:46:38 +0000

I didn’t really spend much time tweaking these… got some good originals though so will get better HDRs when I have more time to play with them.

Power is beauty: The White Tiger

Renie Ravin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:46:46 +0000

This was another trippy trip with the Patels. We headed off one Sunday afternoon to the Vandalur zoo, and for once – all that walking was worth it cause it ended with this White Tiger putting on a great show for us!

Love those greenish-blue eyes!

I didn’t know these buggers liked leaves. Soon they’ll develop longer necks.

Yummy – humans! (I’m sure we’re not as tasty as he thinks we would be)

Now that’s a profile pic – I don’t know how he doesn’t bite that tongue with his own teeth. I can picture myself running for my life and the tiger thinking “relax dude, I was just yawning”.

I so wish we could have thrown a cute little deer in there and watched it be hunted down.

Rest of the pics on Flickr. A much more descriptive post about this trip (including the battle of the apes) on Anwin’s blog.

Madras Crocodile Bank

Renie Ravin — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:42:17 +0000

Cute little bugger

Not so cute now

More pics on Flickr. Fellow naturalists were Anwin, Anoop and Nafisa.

Bangalore IndiBlogger Meet 2009

Renie Ravin — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:54:20 +0000

We’re back, and we can’t wait for this meet to start! The Bangalore meet last year was a load of fun, and it was the meet that inspired so many others all over India. This time around, we have a session on the much awaited Windows 7 instead of the session on Live Writer. We also have a session on blogging rights and freedom of speech which will moderated by the guys at Mutiny.in. So if you’re from Bangalore or if you’re going to be in Bangalore this weekend, this is a must-attend event!

http://www.indiblogger.in/bloggermeet.php?id=26

Ranking of 6000+ Indian blogs from IndiBlogger.in

Renie Ravin — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:59:29 +0000

BinaryDay, one of the most active bloggers on the IndiBlogger Forum, has compiled some interesting stats using the blogs from IndiBlogger.in.

Here are the rankings based on Google PageRank:

Total Blogs studied : 6020
Maximum Pagerank : 6
Minimum Pagerank : 0

Pagerank	# of blogs	% of total blogs
PR 0	2749	46%
PR 1	731	12%
PR 2	1069	18%
PR 3	941	16%
PR 4	428	7%
PR 5	94	2%
PR 6	8	0%

428 blogs with PR4 – now that’s a pleasant surprise! Although blogger still seems to be the preferred choice over wordpress, with 3976 on blogger and only 741 on wordpress.

Read the complete report here, where you can see the list of PR 8 blogs and other interesting information.

Binardyday has compiled rankings based on Alexa here. Frankly, I’m not a big fan of either PR or Alexa, so I can’t wait for him to complete his analysis which is going to include backlinks, technorati rank, number of social bookmarks and feedburner subscribers.

Cross posted on the IndiBlogger blog.

Where are the celeb gossip bloggers?

Renie Ravin — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 14:44:43 +0000

An excerpt from the Washington post:

“Celebrity photographers make hundreds of thousands of dollars selling exclusive images to magazines and Web sites each year.”

Why haven’t I heard of any bloggers in India who do this? Considering the frenzy sorrounding everything our superstars do, I think this is a niche just waiting to be taken up by a blogger. I’ve seen many lousy attempts (and some obscence ones), but no professional efforts like PerezHilton, Gawker and The Superficial.

I’ve cross posted this at the forum.

How to increase level of participation on the IndiForum

Renie Ravin — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 07:09:29 +0000

People, send in your ideas - IndiBlogger.in | How to increase level of participation on this forum

Thanks!

Mumbai terror attack: Bollywood fearing loss of revenue?

Renie Ravin — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:22:23 +0000

I know… WTF? I was just reading this, and quite frankly it’s disturbing that there are actually people talking about, and reporting stuff like losses of revenue to freakin’ bollywood, even while the hostage crisis is still going on!!

“Definitely, the attack will affect and it will last for a month. The loss of 20-25 per cent is expected this time, as the impact of blasts is huge. Last time after the Delhi serial blasts, we saw that audiences preferred to stay home despite big releases,” says Vishal Kapoor, CEO, Fun Cinemas.”

Mumbai bloggers, on the other hand have come together and shouted out on their blogs about this latest terror attack. Have a look here:

Mumbai bloggers speak out on the terror attacks>

Google makes typos too!

Renie Ravin — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:46:33 +0000

“Post failed: Too may posts on this channel in last 24 hrs”

Saw this typo while I was trying out Google’s new SMS Channels service. Looks like they may have openings in their QC department.