Flocking to 'Flock'- A Social Networking Browser

Flock built using Mozilla's Firefox technology is a cool browser that implements social networking amongst other Web 2.0 features. The latest stable release available for download is 1.2 while version 2.0 is in beta testing.

While configuring and adding different sites (Facebook, Blogger) is easy as pie, uploading photos to a Blogpost is where I pulled a hammy. While this post has been written and posted via Flock's interface to Blogger, I needed to login to Blogger to upload a screen shot of Flock.

But while Flock may need tweaks / improvements , it is certainly a good tool for being socially active. I guess in some ways, its like meebo and in others its like iGoogle if you consider its feed gobbling and its 'widget' integration philosophy. Within Flock, you can get updates from your friends (on Facebook), post to your blog, read news, upload photos (to Flickr /Facebook).
Flock is described as "The Social Web Browser". and "the browser for the modern web". I guess having a browser advertised as a vehicle for social networking is an accurate summarization of where the web is headed and the grip that social networking has on our day to day lives.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Addendum (Added on 12th September 2011) Flock has been discontinued since April 2011 and users to the www.flock.com download page are advised to download Chrome or Mozilla.

Negativity... Stay Away!!

Last weekend, I had a conversation with a good friend that initially started off as an interesting technical discussion and degenerated into what I can only term 'raw negativity'.

The negativity stemmed from my friend's 'firm' belief that a particular country that he had spend a significant amount of time in had made 'no progress in the last 50 years'. The transport system was very bad and no where near 'world class' standards.Inflation was high and there was rife unemployment. The medical system was no good because 'he had to wait' to get 'FREE' treatment at a government run hospital. When I pointed out that transport system was plagued by fare-evasion, his response was to 'get more ticket inspectors and issue fines'. Hey, what about doing the right thing and buying a ticket? From public transport, the next target was roads. We have 'only four lanes on highways', why doesn't the government 'break homes/ building' and put in six lanes? Why don't they build an underground tunnel? The latest freeway that had been inaugurated 5 months before time and under budget was 'useless' and 'should have been free'.

Gaah!! All this about a country and a system where he had migrated on his own accord, had striven very hard to become a citizen and had earned around a 100K a year. Unfortunately, I found myself arguing and defending the 'system' and the country. Unfortunate, more so because I was his guest and I do not believe in arguing with a host who has been so hospitable.

In hindsight, the conversation and the negativity stemming from it could have been avoided. The issue was not a country, its system or a person. It was the negativity that stemmed from a pointless discussion (my wife called it an 'argument') that had no productive outcome.

Let me clarify my stand a bit. I am critical of things but my criticism is objective. Rather than bagging an 'entire transport system', I would have preferred 'the service on this particular line is irregular'. My problem with such full-on negativity is that it tends to bring you down and make you also negative. Tomorrow, if I am using the same 'system' and am late for an appointment due to a train service being late or a traffic pileup, my thought will be, 'Yeah that guy was right'.This system is bad and I will conveniently forget, that I have seen worse and others have it even worse than me. Ultimately, I will become a negative guy. I will always end up criticizing people and things. I will never be appreciative of what I have, rather I will always crave for what I don't.

Life is not about negative things. It is about being positive. It is about riding the storm. It is about making the best of what you have. In my years on this planet, I have failed more than I have succeeded and in many cases, my failures have been due to circumstances out of my control. After each such failure, I could have either 'cursed my luck or the system that I was in' or try again with renewed vigor. I have always chosen to try again and let me tell you, It has always been a good option.

And on a parting note, my response to my misguided but good friend is that if you feel so negative about a situation, then do something about it. Stand for election, define the policies and make the World a better place.I am with you.

Canada's Top 20 Web2.0 practitioners

Backbone magazine compiled a list of Canada's Top 20 Web2.0 practitioners. An interesting pick was Jiibe that reportedly helps you compare (hold your breathe) 'workplace culture'. Some of the workplace descriptions I came across were like..

"Even if the customer isn't always right, their needs are usually taken care of over the needs of the employees." and

"Like back in the wild west, this company is focused on the frontier of new discoveries but always keeps its Smith & Wesson by its side."

Another one goes like "This company can't see the forest because they're too busy juggling chainsaws. They might lose all their limbs as a result but wow, what a show while it lasted."

WOW!! Are you seriously allowed to say things like this in print??

Portlets, Servlets, Application Servers and Portal Servers

Portlets have been around for a few years now and after JSR 168 have matured as a technology.Easy plugability, interoperability (of Portlets) with various Portal Servers (post JSR 168) and the rich user interfaces possible in Portlets have made them a popular choice in the J2EE development world. The main purpose of this post is to briefly explain the difference between a Portlet and a Servlet (technically and functionally).

Portlet as a technology borrows heavily from the traditional Servlet model. While both, Portlets and Servlets are Java components that have to be hosted within a Java container (JVM), there are some essential differences.

Portlets as compared to Serlvets are relatively specialised components. They give the developer a chance to focus on capturing some essential function without worrying about the 'other' things that go with making the function available to the real world. Further, unlike Servlets, Portlets cannot be invoked via a URL. This is hardly a limitation as they aren't meant to be invoked in such a manner. Portlets are realized and invoked via Portals. Thus browsers (web-clients) communicate with Portlets via Portals.

A Portal defined in layman terms is a 'web-site' but in essence it is a collection of Portlets. It includes a theme other user interface features that define the look and feel of the Portal. Cameron McKenzie explains it well when he says that Portals build upon existing J2EE functionality and simply management of several diverse applications. Content management is a good example of simplified Portal functionality that is considerably simplified. I experienced this first hand when I installed and ran JBOSS Portal Server 2.6.5.

While Servlets are hosted by an Application Server (such as JBOSS application server, Bea's Weblogic), Portlets require Portal servers. Examples of popular Portal servers are JBOSS Portal Server 2.6.5 and IBM's Portal Server 6.1. Portal servers are super sets of Application servers in the sense that they extend their capabilities and provide specialised functions which make single-sign on, customisable security, one-look applications and rich user interfaces possible in Portlets.

To summarise Portlets are specialised Java components.They can be persisted, configured, manipulated via the addition of buttons and while they aren't allowed to generate general HTML code, the iFrame tag can be used with caution. Nifty??? eh??

Art, Children and Nudity

I guess I am not an artist. I am not much of a photographer and moreover don't photograph people naked (especially children) so I guess I wouldn't know what I am 'talking about' but read my views if you care about what by-standers have to say about this whole controversy about nude children being photographed that has been raging in Australia for the last two months. Today, the PM of Australia, criticised a Melbourne magazine's decision to depict a naked 6 year girl on its cover. As expected, the art community reacted strongly to his comments.

There are two opposing viewpoints. Artists feel that showing naked children in the 'proper context' is art. Children who have been photographed have appeared on TV programs as adults now to acknowledge that they never felt exploited, even though they prefer to keep their names hidden fearing a backlash of some sort. The moralist brigade feels that photographing nude children is not art, they were not 'mature' enough to rightly judge their decision to allow themselves to be photographed naked and displaying such images will encourage pedophiles.

Hailing from a traditional Christian family and having grown up in the conservative mould of Indian society, I have witnessed child exploitation in different forms. Coming to Australia was a big change as far as cultural values and beliefs were concerned. While there is a big gap between these two melting pots of culture, the core values with respect to children remain the same.
Neither India nor Australia encourage child exploitation and have very strict legislation to keep the same in check.

With the current raging controversy over the depiction of nude children as Art refuses to go away, I have a few questions that maybe if answered clearly and directly without hedging will settle this controversy once and more all.

We all agree that child exploitation especially pedophilia is a deplorable state of mind then in this case...
1. Can the supporters of this form of art guarantee that the images of naked children will not be viewed in a sexual nature by pedophiles? Can artists guarantee that their images will not spur pedophiles to commit more crimes ?

2. I have heard children as young as 13 saying they knew what was right for them.Cool. Ten years down the line, if you were to decide to become a school teacher, are you sure that your decision to pose naked will not stand between you and your teaching job (or any other job involving children.) ?

3. For parents and photographers who take photographs of children and then make them available for public view. Can you guarantee the safety and the future of your 'model'?

I guess if the answer of all three questions above is "No" then you would know where my heart and yours should lie too.

Wimbledon 2008: Rafa dethrones the King

Last night / early this morning, I witnessed one of the greatest tennis matches between probably who will be, the greatest champions of the modern day tennis era. Rafa beat the FedEx to win his First Wimbledon and in the process derailed Federer's quest for a sixth straight crown.

It was a high voltage match that see-sawed as the champions fought it out, interrupted by rain and hampered by bad-light. In the end, only Rafa stood tall. The FedEx express had been derailed but what a fightback it was for the five time Wimbledon champ after being 2 sets down, he came back to be within two points of another sensational victory when leading 5-4 in the fifth set but Rafa had the nerves to hold him back. Talking about nerves, the FedEx was the ice-man when he hit a backhand winner with Rafa on matchpoint.

Truly, this was one of the most brilliant exhibitions of tennis and while the Federer's 65 match winning streak on grass may have been broken, in his words "Don't write me off". He will be back stronger, faster and more hungry. In fact I feel that he may finally win Rolland Garros next year and stop Rafa from making it a 5P.

Wimbledon 2008: FedEx thumps Hewitt

Federer started week 2 at Wimbledon 2008 with a thumping straight sets win against Leyton Hewitt who didn't really play all that bad.Federrer just outplayed him and even though his game wasn't 100% on target, it was enough to earn him a well deserved straight sets victory.

Going by the draw, it appears as if we may be treated to another Rafa vs Federrer final. Two finals in two months between these two and the world of tennis can't get any better.Although the last Grand Slam final between these two (at Rolland Garros this year) was a bit of an anti-climax with the FedEx being steamrolled by Rafa so much so that Rafa apologised to Fedex for his own 'brilliance' and praised Roger's attitude on court during the match.

It would be interesting to see if Roger could put it across Rafa and repeat last year's performance on his favorite hunting ground, Wimbledon given the powerful, fluent tennis that Rafa has been playing lately.