Pretty sad...

Was catching up on my blog subscriptions and came across this. This guy Rajeev Srinivasan is hard core but sometimes there's undeniable truth in his posts. Like the one mentioned above.

Sad but true.

And oh by the way....i released the next version of Select Search 1.1

Added the most important feature everyone wanted - Options.

Customize Select Search the way you like it.

You can now add to the Select Search menu, the sites and search engines you want(from the choices available).

Questions? Comments? Talk about it here.

Search Select 1.0 Release

This is not how i wanted the final version to be. But anyways...

Here's the official release of Search Select 1.0.

Thanks a million to Jeremy who let me host this extension on his site and also created a domain for it.

http://selectsearch.23hd.com

Post your comments and suggestions here if you have any.

And before i forget, if you have Cute Menus installed, then you can see the lil' bitty icon beside Select Search in the context menu, that Jeremy created for me, which is pretty cool. The extension will work just as fine even without it.

I've also added background to the menus which might seem cheesy to some people but heyy...that's for the kid in me :)

Search this...

Well, I’ve decided to throw my bit of knowledge into the big spinning wheel of Technology.

Although what I have to offer is only a mere speck of what exists out there, I have enjoyed the hours I have put into creating, what I feel, will enhance your search experience.

I have created an extension to be used in Mozilla Firefox.

What can I say? I love Firefox (though I am a die-hard fan of Opera).

You can get firefox and check it out for yourself if you already haven't.

So what does my extension do? Let me give you a scenario.

Let’s say I’m searching for a MP-3 player (again...he he) and I want to do some price comparisons.

Usually this is what i would do. I go to bestbuy.com for example and I find the MP-3 player I like. Then hit “ctrl + t”, type in shopping.com in the address bar and hit go. In the site that opens up, I enter what I want to compare it's price and have my results.

Good.

But do you know what would make it great?

Staying at Bestbuy’s website, highlighting the text (i.e. IPod shuffle) right-click and going to “Advanced Search” where I have choices at my fingertips.

In this case, I would choose “Price Comparison.”

From there I can choose from the popular sites: Shopping, NexTag, Price Grabber & CNET. I just pick and click.

Or hey, what if you’re a newbie to the Tech world and have no idea what an IPod is (unthinkable, I know.)

Just highlight the word IPod, right click and this time choose "Wikipedia" under "Quick Search" menu or for the slower ones, pick “Definitions and Acronyms.” under "Advanced Search" menu. From there you may choose from Dictionary or Acronym Finder.

Oh and incase you are wondering, the definition for IPod is “a trademarked class of portable digital audio players designed and marketed by Apple Computer .”

So, have I got your attention yet?

Ok, you are at Starbuck’s site and wonder just how healthy coffee really is to your body.

Obviously you haven’t had a cup of coffee yet if you’re thinking like this.

So you probably get the idea now...select text, right click, advanced search, choose “Health” and go to WebMD.

In which you will find that Decaf coffee may raise heart risks. Woooooow,caffeine rocks!!

So these are just two examples, “Price Comparison” & Definitions and Acronyms.”

You can also pick an address on a page and look up the location in Google and Yahoo maps. Yupp...No copy-pasting line by line anymore.

But wait...there's more...

You still have “Mapping, Shopping, Jobs, Product Reviews, Movies & TV, or Music” to choose from in Advanced Search.

And well, I guess it’s not all about Advanced Search. You could choose from Quick Search if you have a desire to.

In which you will have choices from “Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask Jeeves, A9, Wikipedia, or Search All (Dogpile).”

So this is my project. I call it “Select Search Beta”.

It currently is getting a “Look” and hot slogan that reads “make your right click more powerful than your left” (A big thank you to my co-worker Jeremy Johnson)

I intend on putting “Select Search” on its own site so you can read about it, install it and experience the magic (yeah...right!) for yourself.

Again, a creative mind required and so another thank you to Jeremy for that idea.

Thanksgiving part now...

Mapz librarian helped me test it and provided some valuable feedback. So did Russ, Mike and Luis.

Thanks guys.

With all the valuable feedback, when all its elements are aligned and it has reached is creative climax, I will put the link on my blog for all to download.

Will keep you updated on its birth date.

GirishG.com revamped

Finally...even though half baked, i updated my website with its new looks. Like i said, not completely done yet, but the way i was procrastinating it, seemed like i'd never make it live.

Probably gonna get beaten up for the color combination i've chosen (i suck at picking the right colors) , but heyy....that's what criticism is for. If you can suggest a better combo, i'm all ears.

I bought GirishGangadharan.com and redirected GirishG.com to the new one. But i think the email girish AT girishg DOT com should still work since i get one free email address for registering the domain even though i cancelled the hosting with GoDaddy.

Anyways, check out my "all new" website and lemme know what you think.

Till next time,

Happy Living.

Dell from Hell...

Wow, where I do I begin on this one?

Ah yes, the evil underground customer service ring out to screw the world.

This time they have disguised themselves as Dell Representatives.

So after much consideration, I decided to purchase a Dell Inspiron 6000 with a WSXGA LCD screen and a bunch of other cool superdy dooper specs that simply means RAW POWER.

On September 8th I placed a phone order and received a confirmation number. Everything went smoothly.

So I thought.

To avoid tax I had my order shipped to my friend in New Hampshire.

Now I was just playing the waiting game.

And wait I did.

I checked the status of the order online and it showed pending.

A week later, it still showed pending!

So, I called Dell.

They asked for my confirmation number and in return proceeded to tell me that that confirmation number is not valid and apparently the order was never placed.

Here we go!

Hmmm. Excellent time to get some type of compensation for the delay.

They were happy to give me a $75.00 coupon.

And so the waiting game continued...

Oddly enough I received a phone call from them the following week explaining to me that they were out of the $75.00 coupons and would have to give me a $100 one.

After giving it much thought (for approx. about a second) I said ok!

And so everything was going as planned.

My friend received the laptop and shipped it to me.

I opened the box and...

WRONG LAPTOP!

No WSXGA but instead WXGA.

I immediately called Dell, in which they said, "No problem, we will have someone pick up the order."

Amazingly it took them only ONE day to pick it up; if only there customer service were as amazing as that!

So this should be an easy mistake to fix. Just place the same order and hey, use the $100 coupon I received. Excellent!

So, I'm back on the phone with Dell placing the same order. Except there is one problem. About a $400 problem.

The promotion is over!

And even though it was THEIR mistake they cannot give me the same deal.

So I managed to rework the specs and even upgrade from a 512mb to a 1GB. This raised the price $100 from the original amount I was going to pay, but the coupon would cover that.

Great! Order is placed and I receive an acknowledgement email NOT a confirmation. I was told I would receive a confirmation via email within one day.

Four days pass.

Again calling Dell, in which by now I should have them on speed dial!

I can't even believe what I'm about to type next.

The Dell representative replies "Sir, we show no order placed."

WHAT THE F ***?

What do you means the order was not placed? I got an email ackowledgment from Dell.

"Sir, we don't know what happened there. You will need to place the order again."

So we have to redo the order once again. The price they gave me was $100 more. This is BULL S***!

"Hey, what about my coupon?" I asked.

"Sorry sir, that has been redeemed and can not be reused."

Ok, how can an order never have been placed and yet the coupon used is redeemed? That question will never be answered.

However, after battling with these guys for an hour I was able to get another $100 coupon.

With restrictions of course! I have to use my credit card and not my preferred account in order to redeem it. At this point, who cares!

So once again, i go online praying that everything goes fine this time.

Order placed. Received confirmation email. My laptop is shipped to New Hampshire.

I get a call from my friend who not only tells me he received it but um..."Dude, you got two shipments!"

What the hell!!!

At this point everyone at Dell knows me by first name!

Apparently the FIRST order did go through and therefore I was charged twice!

I was instructed to tell my friend to NOT ACCEPT THE PACKAGE. If he did I would have to pay to have it shipped back.

Seriously, could someone please wake me up from this nightmare!

By now I have built up enough confidence in asking for some type of compensation.

Dell offered me a 720 printer (worth $49).

I declined saying I didn't want a printer and that instead I would prefer a $100 coupon. Sound familiar?

The conversation was friendlier and briefer than last time.

Initially the representative declined the request. I asked them to talk to their supervisor. Again, declined!

And again, I pushed!

Hello $100 coupon...with only 30 days to redeem.

I still have not received my laptop but I should be getting it by Thursday.

Coupons anyone? Talk to me...

Aryan Invasion theory

Wonder when this is going to be declared official by the Govt. Of India. This should be updated even in all our textbooks and history keepers( whoever they are) should push to update the official records about this.

Here's the latest findings about Aryan invasion

No playa and my name is Chris…

My mp3 playa is no more.

I could go for the bigger GB but then I had to think reasonably.

Asking myself all those responsible questions we always ask ourselves AFTER the fact.

How often will I use this?

Is it worth the money?

So my answers were: not often.

I can’t use it in the car, no need to in the apartment.

And as far as work in concerned, I’m not the type to listen to music while working.

And if I did have a need I have up to 4 gb on my office server.

Thanks to the coworkers who dumped the music collection onto the server.

Maybe if I were a traveler sitting in airports, riding trains…

And as far as the money…I’ve other things to spend it on.

Like my new laptop & my student loans.

I enjoyed the concept and perhaps when I have money to blow and time I will reconsider.

So I returned the mp3 to Circuit City.

In which I thought I had the receipt but no problem they can pull it up with my phone number.

And the customer service (kid) asked “Ok sir you live in Carrolton and your name is Chris Israelson?”

Ummmm.. NO!

Well your number shows up with this information.

Well I’m not Chris.

Do you remember which credit card you put it on? We can pull it up from there.

Hmmm….thumbing through my collection. Bingo.

Hand it to the guy.

Okay sir your credit card purchase is still showing up under the name Chris Israelson.

Do I look like I would have the name Chris Israelson?

C’mon!

Anyways…

They proceeded to get another person involved.

And then another, being the one that checked me out initially.

I said “hey remember me; you helped me with the mp3 playa?”

She looked at me like I was from mars.

I guess if I were a scared teen thinking I did something wrong I would play dumb.

Obviously my concern here was the fact that my credit card was under someone else name in their system.

I mean could this Chris guy go on a shopping binge with my card?

They (all 3) tried reassuring me that Chris doesn’t have access to it.

That when a buyer checks out they ask for a phone number.

That Chris probably had my number at one time.

The girl that helped me, whom suddenly lost her tongue, never checked what name came up when she typed the phone number in to ring up my purchase.

And as far as the credit card, since the name was not changed at that moment I bought an mp3 under Chris’s name.

To further reassure me they said they would physically have to have my credit card to pull up any information.

Ok. I get it. So let’s change the information under that phone number.

Sorry Sir you have to purchase something for us to access the number.

WHAT?

You know I’m starting to think there is some kind of evil underground customer service rings purposely out to screw the world.

It’s like they meticulously have everything planned.

So just when I was thinking that the Vet and Circuit City was lacking in the definition of customer service this underground ring was planning their greatest hit against me.

Stay tuned for what I feel is an award winning attempt to screw me on my purchase of a Dell laptop.