Google - The Noun, The Verb

Google - the one stop search engine for anything and everything under the sky or above the sky or even in the sky..[:)]. Google so went into the minds of people that we are using it as a verb also now.

I can't even imagine the world without Google. I guess, am not exaggarating. I am so used to it. I guess there a lot of people like me. For me its Pre-Google era and Post-Google era.

Now Google has come up with Google Instant...The first time I saw, I liked it already.

It shows results as you type. Google gives better search results and now it gives them even faster.

This is what Google has to say about Google Instant - "Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can scan a results page while you type.

Did you know:

• Before Google Instant, the typical searcher took more than 9 seconds to enter a search term, and we saw many examples of searches that took 30-90 seconds to type.
• Using Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search.
• If everyone uses Google Instant globally, we estimate this will save more than 3.5 billion seconds a day. That’s 11 hours saved every second. (Wow...!!!)
• 15 new technologies contribute to Google Instant functionality."

Average Time to Enter Search

Source: Google

The New Face for Indian Rupee

Now, our Indian Rupee got a new face - a face to distinguish Indian Rupee from other countries' currency which are also rupee.

Until now, we didnt have a symbol to identify the Indian Currency. All we had is INR (Well every other country has that).
US Dollar, UK Pounds, Japanese Yen, EU Euros etc have symbols and now we are also joining the elite club of currency symbols.

It would take an year's time for the symbol to get incorporated completely into our system and about 2 years for it to get world wide recognition.

Though the symbol will not be printed or embossed on currency notes or coins, it would be included in the 'Unicode Standard' and major scripts of the world to ensure that it is easily displayed and printed in the electronic and print media.

"It's a big statement on the Indian currency... The symbol would lend a distinctive character and identity to the currency and further highlight the strength and global face of the Indian economy," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told in a press meet.

This symbol is selected from an open competition that has been organized by the ministry to design the symbol. The prize set for the winner was Rs 250,000 ($5,352) in cash (I very much wanted to use the symbol here but it takes time for it to come onto the keyboards and keypads). And the lucky winner is Udaya Kumar, a post-graduate student at IIT Mumbai.

He says, "It is a perfect blend of Indian and Roman letters -- capital 'R' and Devanagri 'Ra' which represents rupaiah, to appeal to international and Indian audiences... My design is based on the tricolour, with two lines at the top and white space in between.

Let us wait for the symbol to get into the market.

Day I became driver for my driver... !

This happened on the third day of my new job. The clocked ticked 1:00. It was early in the morning (or midnight ??). I winded up all my logout chores and came out. Got into the cab along with another guy. Was enjoying the cool breeze of the dark hour. The other guy got down at Madapur. And our journey continued. Everything looked normal. Seemed like every other day.

We were on the fly-over that goes from nagarjuna circle to begumpet and then happened the unexpected. I was looking out of the window unknown and wondering whats there in the store for me and suddenly our cab went very close - very very close to the pit wall of the flyover. I thought the cab is taking a free fall from the fly-over already. Somehow, the driver controlled and journey continued for a few more feet and we almost bumped into a lorry. I saw the cab driver and he was 90% asleep. Wow!!! Dont drink and drive but what about sleep and drive! I wanted to go home..Nowhere else. So, I took up the steering wheel and gave a break to the driver. He sat in the passenger's seat and slept yawning to the glory.

I guess this was the very moment and reason for which I have learnt car driving...Chaos Theory.

It really takes an experienced guy to know how it feels to be the only passenger with a sleepy (slept!) driver with heavy vehicles with tones load running on the road