My Shared Items

I'm probably the biggest fan of Google Reader. There are minor details that I don't like; i.e. the "All Items (100+)". I lost track of how many feeds I'm following, so I consulted my "Trends" and I'm pasting it what it says right here...

From your 72 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 11,426 items, starred 13 items, and shared 33 items.

The point is, I easily get more than 100 items when I wake up in the West Coast. Usually I get the "(100+)" almost all of my folders there. That's probably another reason why I stopped using del.icio.us long time ago. It's just too much hassle to add stuff to a list and tag them when I'm just skimming through millions of posts every day.

Just because of this sole issue, I decided to publish my "Shared Items" from Google Reader. I added the widget on my blog's sidebar. You can also check it out from here. And if you're a Google Reader bloke like me, you might want to add the feed.

Can You Really Export Software?

Just a little thought experiment... Today, I came across an article (I really don't remember where) about Pakistan Software Export Board's new goals and expectations and what not. What really struck me the most is the name of the board and I have a gut feeling that it's actually misleading. I really believe i the fact that in the world we're living in today, software really became a mainstream commodity. My question however, is, can you really "export" software or is it the "labour" that you export by the means of outsourcing?

The best resource I've seen on this so far is http://www.emich.edu/ict_usa/exporting_software.htm.

What I'm most concerned about is how can you really regulate the software trade? With products like shoes, books, DVD's at least the Customs Authorities can do something. How can you monitor downloaded software? How about open source software?

Worst Way to Communicate - SMS

I'm quite certain I never liked communicating over SMS. I have to admit that texting occupied a great deal of my life growing up, but that doesn't stop me from hating it. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I started using GrandCentral now that I have a desk phone, two BlackBerry's and my good old cell phone. This made me re-realise how much I hate text messaging.

When we were younger, for some reason it seemed to us that texting was cheaper than directly calling the person and I remember sending an SMS to learn the whereabouts of my friends when they were late to the movies. Trust me it was time consuming; go to Menu, then Messages/Create new message, type the message, wait until the guy receives and responds to your text. How can this be faster then just calling the dude? Anyways that's not the point. On the plus side, practice really made perfect; we were really fast typing on the dial pad (Remember, my childhood were the times before T9 or any other text prediction was introduced). Soon, cell phones and SMS became the greatest cheating device - we could text without looking at the phone under the desk

So why do I have so much hatred now that I'm all "grown up"? Now that I'm paying for my own phone bill, I find the charges unacceptably high. Whether you have a texting plan or not, I think it's really expensive. Aside from that I still think they are slow. Actually, come to think about it, if you have a BlackBerry, it's not slower then typing an email, but did I tell you SMS is extremely unreliable?

Here is my breakdown:

1. Doesn't guarantee that the message will be delivered (at least I have come across a lot of cases where the message was not delivered).
2. You can only RECEIVE on your cell phone.
3. You can only SEND TO a cell phone.
4. You can't redirect your text messages if your phone's battery dies (or any other reason for that matter).

I guess that'd make a nice list, did I forget anything else? Here is the single most reason my hatred grew once again - now that I'm using GrandCentral as my "phone hub", I don't check my old cell phone anymore (I think it's somewhere on my desk hiding under a huge pile of papers). So what then? I DON'T GET TEXT MESSAGES ANYMORE.