10 Signs that you work in Walt Disney World

10 Signs that you work in Walt Disney World

10 :  When one does not simply go to California and not go to Disneyland

9 : Your weekend plans always include going to DAK, MK, DHS or Epcot

8 : You go for ‘Planes’ movie but cannot say it to anyone       , for fear of being asked how was it

7 : You go to a restaurant and ask if they have a cast member discount

6 : Your production server names are snow white, evil queen and sleepy

5 : Your coffee mug has a mouse depicted on it

4 : You get excited about battling traffic for two hours to go and stand in queue for       another 2 two hours to get a glimpse of a man in seem weird costume       ( yaa villain’s night in your face )

3 : You think it is reasonable to pay 25$ for lunch and 7-8$ for a glass of beer

2 : You cannot understand why someone does not know every single       detail about every single attraction in every single Disney park

1 : Your lunch conversation includes things like, top 10 restrooms in WDW

New Chrome Look

I have often stated that I get excited about new things in computers and technology in general, from Amazon's matchbook program to Apple's new iOs7 ( even though I don't own any apple device ) . This time I am psyched about new chrome update. Google all the way !!

So what has changed :

If you notice, the black bar on top giving instant access to other Google products is gone and instead we got a grid on top right side. When we click this grid, we can see various Google products from Youtube to Google news. I do hate the fact that now Google news is two clicks away instead of one. But hopefully I can workaround it.

Also, Google's premium product 'Gmail' has its one click access. So does Google +, I expect this to increase Google plus use considerably.  The grid shows off Icons similar to Android app icons, so you can sense Google is trying to give us consistent look whether we use, Android, Chrome browser or Chrome OS .

This interface is lot more Google like, with bright colors against white background. Also Google seems to have flattened its logo, which I am not sure why they had to change. 

Overall, This is not just cosmetic change. I expect that we should now be able to see notification on Google page just like we get in our phones . So a new mail or a new Google+ post will instantly ring the bell . You will now be more connected to Google products than before.

It will take time to see how all these changes pan out, but the one change that seems to me of most immediate use is 'I'm feeling lucky button '. When you hover over it, you also get an option of 'I'm feeling playful','puzzled','confused'..and many others. Clicking 'I'm feeling artistic' opened up random painting in Google galleries, which I immediately wanted to explore . Clicking 'I'm feeling playful' opens up various games which you would have seen in past on Google, like google packman. 

Following came up on saying I feel puzzled. Expect spending more time on google bar than you intended to or I guess at least that is what Google is hoping for

I am off , exploring more about google page. Adios !

UPDATE : Turns out that changes to 'I'm feeling lucky' had rolled out somewhere in last year only. But I noticed it only now :(. Well better late than never.

MatchBook

Amazon’s matchbook –

I am someone who often gets psyched about upcoming technologies or gadgets. Sometimes even for no reason, like I was super psyched about Google Glass, Moto X (yes I am a Google fan boi ) , possible new nexus 7 , kindle fire . Most of them turn out to be a damper. But this one has me completely psyched.

Many readers like me were wondering when would this happen; well now we know the answer – Starting this October.

So as part of the program –

“

For thousands of qualifying books, your past, present and future print-edition purchases will soon allow you to buy the Kindle edition for $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free.

“

I was always torn apart between buying ebook and print books. One offers familiarity and old world charm other offers portability and benefit of applying computing power on it (search for a string, definition of word etc). Thanks to this program, now I can enjoy best of both worlds without having to compromise at all. I would most definitely want to order a physical book and read it but if I want to search something or preserve it for future read it I can store it in my kindle account.

Though sadly enough, this program does not announce discounted print books if you have already bought ebooks. I guess they are trying to push ebooks on people who are prone to reading physical books. This would enhance sales of their device and hook people completely to the Amazon ecosystem. It will also have a minor reversal effect on few people like me. I was thinking of moving towards ebook world, now I don’t need to.

This provides me more of an incentive to buy Amazon’s Kindle fire HD. But I am pretty sure they are going to introduce a new one sometime this year. So hold back on that for now.

It is ironic that, though I am a google fan boi and downplay most of its competitors like Apple and Microsoft.  I absolutely love Amazon  which is probably the competitor which has had most direct impact on Google's revenue .