What’s RSS?
RSS stands for Really Sweet Stories. Okay it doesn’t stand for that, but the stories is what it’s all about. It’s a web-technology that helps these Really Sweet Stories (like this one), news & information reach you in your web-browser (Internet Explorer or Firefox) rather than you going after it, day after day. If there’s one tech habit you acquire in 2008, let it be the habit of subscribing to various RSS feeds and getting your information through there.

How will subscribing to RSS, make my life better?
1. A Huge Time Saving: Most of us are spending more and more time on the web. Although the web is a great tool (the best really) for information, entertainment, staying connected with friends etc., it is a HUGE time-waster too. By getting information via RSS you can iscan through 40 to 50 webpages within 5 easy minutes, with no stress whatsoever. You settle upon which you’d like to read, then with the help of some RSS Readers you can choose to read it right away or mark it for later.

 I often get asked from friends to help them troubleshoot their PC problems. It’s not a problem if they’re sitting in front, but more often than not they’re communicating from somewhere far and that’s when you wish there’s an application out there like Yuuguu!

Well here it is! Yuuguu is a free service allowing it’s users to share each others’ desktops. It means you can view/use your friend’s PC as if you were sitting right next to them. Imagine the uses:

1. Work remotely:
You’re at home and need to login to your Office PC. With Yuuguu you can remotely logon to your PC, and interact with colleagues as though they’re next to you.

2. Web Conferencing
I’d recommend using Yuuguu with skype. It’s a great combination to give anyone a presentation remotely and also speak to them live.

3. Troubleshoot PCs
IT Admins of small businesses can trouble shoot PCs in their offices which may be in their premises or somewhere else. All you need is an internet connection.

Any more uses of Yuuguu you can think of ?

Signing up is as simple as signing up for Yahoo Messenger or Gtalk. A user can control what level of permission and share your desktops with as many users as you want!

Has the Internet changed how you read the news? It certainly has changed for me, and saving me lots of time. I remember the pre-internet days when I had to wait for dinner time to watch the news, or wait for next morning, to read the headlines.  The internet of course changed all that. These days all the small and big news & content providers have an online presence that provide the news that is up to date. From CNN and BBC to The Hindu and Times of India.

So how can Netvibes.com save you several hours a week? Well, instead of sitting infront of the Idiot box during dinner time waiting for the news to show up, or spending hours visiting all the websites to track the news. You can use Netvibes.com to brings the latest news from the sources you select, neatly arranged in a nice package, waiting to be read.

Below are some steps I’ll show you on how to setup your page at Netvibes, and add your favorite news source to track, with some cool tips & tricks to manage them.

1. Visit Netvibes.com and setup your account

Setting up your account is as easy as clicking on the ‘Register Now’ link and then entering your email and password.

I was really surprised to see this site! Inshort, it’s like the Google Maps for India. MapMyIndia allows the user to search any place on the map of India by entering the location details. eg:

“S block, Greater Kailash II, New Delhi”

It’s not there yet, ’cause when I tried entering the Vakil Housing office address, it just recognised the ‘bangalore’ in it. But nonetheless it’s a great start, with some cool Ajax features like dragging the map & zooming! Some of the other features available:

* When browsing a city or town it shows the popular places to visit.
* Registered users can create & save their locations. (e-locations)
* Right click to see driving directions from

Below is the location of our office which I’ve marked with a blue indicator (e-location):

Here’s a Web Service that I’ve been meaning to write for a long time. Riya.com is a free photo sharing website with a difference. Once you upload your photos, using it’s face recognition technology it can match the faces of the same person across all photos!

So once you’ve got a whole bunch of photos uploaded on Riya, you can automatically browse through them by the people present the in photos! Try Riya today!

Interesting Fact: Riya is founded by an Indian, Munjal Shah. Check out his Blog here: http://munjal.typepad.com

With a few web2.0 applications cropping up everyday, it’s becoming difficult to track them and separate the best from the rest. Here’s a site that lets you do just that. It gives an award to the best Web2.0 site in it’s category. Check it out here:

http://web2.0awards.org/

Hi,

I’ll be posting updates on what’s happening here at BarCamp Chennai. Check out the Pics from Day One here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32732674@N00/sets/72057594101645306/