+1 to G+

Here's my observations on G+ after using it for a little over a week.

What I like (In no particular order)

• G+ can potentially replace Gmail, Twitter and FB for all my non-professional communication. I rather share a post with my friends about a possible holiday next weekend, than send them an email with an URL. If it's an opinion about the latest movie I watched, open the post up to public and voila! it's your Tweet. How does it replace FB? Read on..
• This deserves a different bullet! Contrary to popular opinion, I am glad G+ looks similar to FB. This ensures that there is not a whole lot of relearning. I can upload pictures, share videos in almost the same way as I can in FB, and mind you FB does this really well. So why reinvent the wheel?! Well done Google, imitation is also an art (FB should be flattered).
• I absolutely love the fact that a lot of thought has gone into the way the pictures are displayed (I have some dis-pleasures as well, but that's in the next section). You can see a picture and the comments without scrolling (unless you have a zillion comments), the nifty little UI (seemingly flicked from Bing Image Search) where you can see all pictures uploaded by your circle and the crown jewel.. the fact that you can see photo information from the actions menu (Aperture, Shutter Speed et al.). A brilliant feature for a photo enthusiast.
• The gloss is taken out of the limelight and buried into the corner. Relationship statuses and Poking do not take center stage and inane games and quizzes are not here yet (although, I may soon be disappointed). If you rate my comic skills in a quiz.. you are probably going to be in my "Annoying" Circle :P
• Sparks! What a brilliant concept! Half baked features for now, but I am willing to patient on this one. Six months later I see myself using this every morning. Fingers crossed!
• G+ Huddle on Android. I see this replacing my ultra-useful but somewhat limited WhatsApp. This will probably be the only such messenger where I can potentially SMS non-phone device (such as an iPod Touch). I can't wait for the App to be available on other platforms (I think Apple is sweating bullets on this one as this is a huge blow to their proposed iOS messenger)
• Now to Circles.. A bit of love hate here, but overall I like the fact that it's a lot more intuitive to segregate people. I also enjoy the twitter-like setup where I decide to see your "public" posts in my stream without your approval.

Things I Dislike

• While I can replace Twitter, Gmail and FB.. I can't replace Blogger and that pains me. Why can't they have HTML Formatting on posts?! Instead of posting this link on G+, I would love to write this on G+ and share it with the world. Shouldn't be too hard.. no?
• I might be a little too demanding here.. but I rue the fact that privacy settings can't be changed on individual pictures. There are different parts of my trip to the beach that I want my friends co-workers to see. Why can't I do that?! (I am reasonably sure this feature does not exist, but I am keen on being corrected :) )
• As much as I like Circles.. it is quite complicated for someone who logs in every now and then and does not analyze the tool. Add to that, the fact that you need to add every one of your contacts to "some" circle can be frustrating for someone who is not excited as I am about G+. This maybe FB hangover, but there should be a more intuitive way of knowing what friend A posted to friend B. To clarify, if I want to compliment a friend on her looks at the party last night and I don't mind my college buddies (who are also her friends) knowing about it.. I need to write a post tagging that lovely lady and share with her and my college buddies.. kinda counter-intuitive don't you think? Right now, FB and Twitter does this brilliantly without messing privacy.
• I am sorta disappointed that Google did not go on overdrive and mention there interpretation of "Public". So I write a post about dinner at an Italian Deli and since it's not a "private" post, I open it up to the world. Some random person can now find my post from Google search and comment on it?! This takes getting used to and Google should have clarified!

Wishlist!

• First of all, I want all my "Dislikes" to be worked on :P
• Sparks needs to be better! I want to decide which of my Sparks topics are shown first (right now, the one's added latest are first on the list) and I want Google to import my Google News topics.
• As developers get involved in making Apps, I really hope Google does a better job than FB at keeping out Spam and Malware.
• Unlimited photos in Picasa is cool, but what we really need is High Resolution support, Slideshow Capabilities and Picnik integration. Won't you love it if G+ could replace Fickr too?! (Even if we need pay some bucks to make it happen)
• Already available nifty features such as notification alert on Tab/Window Title (like what Gmail does when there is an email or FB on notifications), Group/Company profiles etc.
  

Note that, I am not a huge fan of Video Chat and I am not a over concerned about privacy either (Nothing can be "truly private" on the internet). Hence those aspects have not been reviewed.

Overall, I am absolutely loving the G+ experience and I hope the FB friends I like port over. Some Twitter celebrities moving here would help too.

Bottom Line? +1 to G+!

Things that come to mind about the "Anti-Corruption" Campaign

Understandably, the piece of news that has consumed me completely since the Cricket World Cup has been the Anti-Corruption movement. Here are some thoughts that come to my mind (in no particular order).

1. At the time of writing this article, 10,36,582 across India people have joined the anti-corruption movement. H.D. Devegowda won the 2009 Elections by a Margin of 2.9L votes from a single constituency(Hassan, Karnataka). The Largest Margin the the 2009 elections was by Anil Basu of CPM by 5.9L votes (Arambagh, West Bengal). Remember these are "margins", not the total number of votes.
2. The average age of "civil society" representatives for the Lok Pal bill drafting committee is 65.2 Years (71,86,55,71,43). So much for being the "movement of youth"
3. How on earth is the Lok Ayukta of Karnataka (Santosh Hegde) part of "Civil Society"?!
4. Everyone who believes "Civil Society" should be a part of law making should realize that Rahul Mahajan is part of the same civil society that Kiran Bedi is.
5. The city contacts page on the IAC website is worth visiting. There's Belgaum and there's Belgaum (Karantaka). Interesting!
6. We suddenly have a Billion Navjot Sidhu's. Rajdeep Sardesai called Jantar Mantar the "Tahrir Square of India". Pritish Nandy said "If the people unite behind Anna Hazare as they united behind MS Dhoni, the war against corruption will be won". Not to mention half of my FB friends feel "History has been made"
7. For the first time in four years, IPL news has taken a back seat in Times of India, NDTV and ibnlive to something more meaningful. Never mind the constantly increasing font size on NDTV's Home page (It's time they hire an engineer who has at-least heard of the term CSS)
8. "candle light vigils" and "protest rally's" have gone beyond the biggest cities of India. When was the last time we saw "citizen activism" in Agra and Ghorakpur? Bravo!
9. There is hope!

Lastly, I hope everyone who's shouted a slogan, lit a candle or attended a rally in the last fortnight goes out and votes in an election next time they have a chance! While politician bashing is fancy and feels patriotic, the only one's who can really weed out corruption are politicians. Everyone else can at most become Suhel Set; Loud, Annoying and MIA when he has a chance to join the movement. While it is tempting to declare victory, we need to remember (As Anna Hazare says) the battle has only begun.