Pipl : What Google Think about you - EgoSurfing

The most comprehensive people search on the web

Do not Google your next date. Try Pipl search instead - big surprises there!

Contrary to the name, Pipl is not a place to search for people, it's all about finding facts about a person on the internet. And Pipl is amazingly accurate.

Type in the person's name (or even your name) and Pipl.com will extract every bit of information about that person from the web in seconds. In most cases, you will also get the contact details (postal address or even email address) of the person.

Other than one line bios and contact details, Pipl also shows related profile summaries (from Flickr, Amazon, Yahoo! People, etc), research publications, web search results and recent news stories related to that person.

Do not confuse Pipl with Googlism - Pipl is all about relevant and meaningful information while Googlism is more for fun and satire.

Pipl.com - People Search that really works. [egosurfing]

Email Traceroute : Plot your email trajectory on Google Maps

Wondering what physical path an email message (from a friend or some spammer) had followed before reaching your inbox ? Try the Email graphic traceroute service.

You copy-paste your email headers in the Email Routemap web interface and the service draws the path of your email message on Google maps.



For the above screenshot, we used a test mail sent via yahoogroups.com.The orange icon (destination) denotes the location of Yahoo! Mail servers while the green pin indicates the origin or the location from where that email message was sent.

Another very interesting Google Maps mashup is Google Maps Traceroute - type in any IP address and the service will show the exact physical location of that IP on Google Maps.

Scribd : Embed Docs, Excel Spreadsheets, PDFs as Flash Paper

If that sounds just too confusing, here's a one-size-fits-all kind of solution called Scribd that makes it extremely easy for you to embed any kind of document (including PDF) in your blog.

Upload your documents to Scribd and the tool will convert them into printable Flash SWF files using Adobe FlashPaper 2 technology. Site visitors can zoom, search for text or print these embedded Flash documents using the onscreen controls.

These Flash Documents can then be embedded inside any webpage like other Flash files using simple HTML. As the converted file is in vector format, it looks the same everywhere.

Scribd Home | FAQ [Embedding documents in webpages was never so simple]

There's another advantage of Scribd - Flash produces files of the smallest possible size. Hence your webpages will load faster.

Picnik: The Best Online Image Editing Tool

Picnik.com, the most popular online photo editing suite, has added some new features today. That includes support for Picasa web albums and ability to add frames and rounded corners to your pictures.

With Google making the Picasa API public, Picnik can now load and save photos to and from your Google Picasa Web Albums account directly. Earlier, this feature was available only with Flickr images.

Even will all these nice photo editing features, Picnik and others will be under tremendous pressure to innovate as Adobe is gearing up to change the rules of the game.

Vixy.net : Download Youtube Videos as Quicktime Videos or MP3 Audio Files

While there are tons of tricks that let you download flash videos from Youtube or Google videos in either FLV or AVI format, Vixy.net is a new player in this game with a difference.

With Vixy, you can download Youtube videos directly as a Quicktime video or a audio-only file (MP3 format). Vixy will effectively extract the audio portion from the Youtube video for you.

When you submit an url, this service will download and convert the video format. Then you can download the converted file.

And like Keepvid, you still have the option to download in the standard Windows AVI format with the DivX codec or the MP4 format for the video iPod.

Apart from Youtube Videos, Vixy can help you covert any FLV file to AVI/MOV/MP4/MP3 format online.

FLV Online Converter

Search Video Clips from Popular Video Sharing Sites In One Place

How do you find videos on the web related to some topic? The Youtube website is probably a good place to start but if you confine the search only to YouTube, you will miss so much exciting stuff that exists in other places.

Google Video, MySpace, DailyMotion, iFilm, Metacafe, Revver, Veoh, Reuters, Yahoo! Videos, BrightCove, MSN Soapbox, AOL, Grouper...these video sharing websites may not be as big as YouTube but they still have a great fan following and host tons of video clips that may well be of your interest.

We often ignore searching video content on these "non-YouTube" sites because of lack of time - fortunately, this problem is now a thing of the past with uLinkx - a comprehensive video search engine to help you conveniently search multiple video websites from one place.

uLinkx provides RSS search feeds for your video search queries. And you can also watch any of these videos without leaving the uLinkx website - no more hitting the back or forward buttons in your browser.

My favorite feature is the Live Video search which is like a common wrapper for all video sharing sites. You execute a live query on YouTube or sites right inside uLinkx.

Other than video search, uLinkx can be used for bookmarking video clips from multiple sites or organizing them in video playlists. [image a single playlist that streams videos clips coming from different sources like YouTube, Metacafe and Google Video]

Wishlist - more customizable RSS feeds and support for BrightCove and Blip.tv. I also faced problems subscribing to the Video search feeds in Newsgator but they worked fine inside Google Personalized homepage.

uLinkx.com | Bookmarklet | Developer Blog | All In One Search

Toondoo: Create Your Own Comic Strips

Toondoo is a new service from the developers of Zoho Office where anyone can create comic strips in seconds.

Drag-n-drop the characters on the canvas, change backgrounds, add speech bubbles or even upload your own pictures. Everything is packed inside a very intuitive Flash interface that even a three year old can get started in minutes.

Like Youtube videos, users can rate and comment on your cartoons or embed them in blogs. With ToonDoo comic creator in town, professional cartoon artists may soon feel the heat.

ToonDoo.com | ToonPress

Widgetbox: Cross promote your blog on other websites with these professional looking widgets

Widgetbox is the world's largest widget marketplace, with widgets for Facebook, Blogger, typepad, myspace, Bebo, wordpress, Piczo, Xanga, Freewebs

Widgets (aka Gadgets) are now found everywhere on the web - people use them for cross promoting their blogs, running picture slide-shows in the sidebar, sharing favorite music or video clips, displaying Amazon Shopping wish-list and more.

Two of my favorite blog widget providers are YourMinis and Widgetbox - both offer detailed stats and an option to embed widgets in your Blogger, MySpace, FaceBook, Netvibes, Google IG, PageFlakes or other accounts automatically.

www.widgetbox.com

Vuvox: Create Stunning and interactive multimedia presentations

Vuvox creates extremely impressive Flash presentations from your videos, photos, music like you've never seen before.

To create your own Vuvox presentation, simply collect the media files into Vuvox from your hard drive or pull them direct from the web (Flickr, YouTube, PhotoBucket, etc), choose one of the 3D styles and publish.

The final presentation will look stunning though it took only couple of minutes if not seconds to create it from scratch.

In one of the styles, your pictures and videos appear on the branches and leaves of a tree and they grow as you add more media. Another style reminds me of the Microsoft Coffee computer table - you move, resize and rotate pictures on the computer screen with your mouse instead of your fingers.

Each presentation can be viewed directly on the Vuvox website or you can embed them in web pages. If you have to showcase you portfolio to clients, look no further than Vuvox. Presentation does matter.

www.vuvox.com | Sample | DEMO Launch

Why is a sandlot used as a playing area for children?

A sandlot refers to a vacant lot used by children to play games, mostly unorganised ones. Unlike a playground specifically created for certain games, sandlots perhaps developed as informal spaces which children made use of to serve as makeshift playgrounds. In the US, sandlot baseball refers to an advanced version of the game played by teams not affiliated with either the Major or Minor leagues in the country.

What is a frozen zoo?

The frozen zoo is a collection of biological materials from a wide variety of rare and critically endangered species. The biological material is composed of gametes (sperm and oocytes), embryos, tissue samples (cell lines), serum and other items. It represents a genetic bank vault, an archive of irreplaceable genetic information that can be preserved for perhaps hundreds of years. It is stored in specialised holding tanks filled with liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196 degrees Celsius or -373 degrees Fahrenheit. If a species nears extinction and its genes are lost, some samples can be thawed and by using assisted reproductive techniques, offspring can be produced. The collected gametes in the frozen zoo are also used in the process of artificial insemination, embryo transfer, and invitrofertilization.

Which continent has the most number of ports?

With over 1,000 ports, Europe is perhaps the continent with most number of ports. The UK alone has over 200 ports and European ports handle about 3.5 billion tonnes of cargo.

Who are hobos?

Hobos is an American word which refers to homeless people wandering about in search of work. In earlier days, hobos were supposed to move around by hopping from one freight train to another, just to save the cost of transportation. Hobos and hobo culture began in mid-19th century, when the ending of the Civil War caused severe unemployment in the US and several people left their homes and started moving about the whole country in search of jobs. A similar phenomenon happened during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Although the term owes its origin to the above phenomena, it is used today to refer to a tramp in general, an aimless traveller not necessarily looking for work. There are several theories related to how the word hobo got coined: some say the word has been derived from the phrase hopping box cars, and some others that it is a shortened version of the rail-road greeting ‘Ho Beau,’ popular in the 19th century.

Why is the symbol @ used in e-mail addresses?

An e-mail address identifies a location to which e-mail messages can be delivered. The first electronic mail delivery engaging two machines was done in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson, a programmer at Bolt, Beranek and Newman, an engineering company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He needed a way to separate, in the e-mail address, the name of the user from the machine the user was on. He wanted a character that would not, under any conceivable circumstances, be found in the user’s name. He looked down at the keyboard and chose the @ sign among various punctuation marks available on his Model 33 teletype keyboard. He had no idea that he was creating an icon for the wired world. Today, email is the most used application on the internet. Each e-mail account has a unique address. A general format for an e-mail address is: username@computer_name. The part before the @ sign is the local part of the address, the user name of the recipient, and the part after the @ sign is the domain part which is a host computer name.

Which country has the maximum number of universities?

According to UNESCO, India tops the list with 8,407 universities. It’s followed by the United States (5,759), Argentina (1,705) and Spain (1,415).

Though the platypus and whale lay eggs, why are they considered mammals?

Platypus


Whale

A mammal, by definition, breathes air into the lungs, is warm blooded, feeds its offspring milk and has body hair. Mammals evolved from reptiles some 70 million years ago and some like whales returned to the waters approximately 16 million years after leaving it. The platypus is a duck-billed, beavertailed and otter-footed poisonous mammal that is also special because it lays eggs. However, the eggs develop in the uterus for a much longer time than that of egglaying non-mammals and the young ones are fed milk — something unique to mammals. It is believed that monotremes (the class of platypus-like mammals) branched from other mammals early in evolution. The other mammals evolved into either placental or marsupial groups. The class of mammals that evolved into whales do not lay eggs at all.

What is the 3rd Space vest?

These vests help users endure virtual blows, literally. An American surgeon has invented a vest that lets computer game users feel physical attacks like shots, stabs, etc. while playing games. The vest uses air pressure and feedback from the computer to simulate thumps on those regions of a person’s torso, which would have been hit if the person were actually fighting in a battle. It’s designed by Mark Ombrellaro and was originally intended for medical purposes.

Who created the smiley?

Research professor at the Carnegie Mellon University Scott E Fahlman is said to be the creator of the smiley, an emoticon used in internet parlance. It is believed that Fahlman sent an e-mail to his colleagues on September 19, 1982: “I propose the following character sequence for joke markers; :-). Read it sideways.’’ This year, the emoticon which has endeared itself the world over, turned 25. To celebrate its silver jubilee, an annual Smiley Award meant for CMU students was created. It carries a cash prize of $500. Prof Fahlman says that the Smiley Award is for ‘innovation in technology-assisted humanto-human communication’.

Why is World AIDS Day observed on December 1?

The first World AIDS Day came in the wake of the world summit of ministers of health on programmes for AIDS prevention in London in January 1988 which delegates from 148 countries attended. They emphasised the need for worldwide AIDS education, the free exchange of information, and the protection of human rights and dignity. The World Health Organisation recognised the event by declaring December 1 as World AIDS Day. In 1991, the red ribbon became the international symbol of HIV and AIDS awareness. It was created by the Visual AIDS Caucus in New York. It made its public debut at the 1991 Tony Awards on the lapel of host Jeremy Irons.

Which is the world’s first SEZ?

A Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a region that has economic laws that are more liberal than a country’s typical economic laws. The goal of an SEZ is to increase foreign investment. One of the earliest and the most famous SEZs was founded by the government of the People’s Republic of China under Deng Xiaoping in the early 1980s. The most successful SEZ in China is in Shenzhen. Following this example, SEZs have been established in several countries, including Brazil, India, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine.

What is quantum tunnelling?

In Physics, quantum is the particle which obeys quantum mechanics. When a quantum particle has to cross a potential barrier which has more energy than the particle, then, according to classical physics, it cannot do so. But, in quantum mechanics, it can, however small it be. This phenomenon is known as quantum tunnelling. The best example of quantum tunnelling is the emission of alpha particles from a radioactive nucleus . Although the energy of alpha particles is less than nuclear potential, they can tunnel through it.

What’s the difference between a lawyer and a barrister?

A lawyer is a person who practises law; one who conducts lawsuits for clients or advises clients of their legal rights and obligations. A barrister is a legal practitioner whose main function is to practise advocacy in court. They often have less interaction with clients. Barristers spend their working hours in chambers where they prepare their cases.

What is medical narcissism?

Medical narcissism is defined as the need for health professionals not to disclose serious medical errors to their patients for fear of losing credibility and esteem in their eyes.

Why are the kilogram weights hexagonal?

Kilogram weights are hexagonal for stability, as volume is the surface area multiplied by height. For a hexagonal object, the surface area is maximum as compared to other angular shapes, plus the height is fixed for every weight. The higher the surface area, the better the stability.

What’s special about the Kew Gardens?

Kew Gardens in Thames, London, is best known for being the home of the Royal Botanical Gardens (now a world heritage site). Other points of interest include the Kew Palace and the National Archives (previously known as the Public Records Office). The Kew Gardens is special because it is an important international botanical research and education institution with a staff of over 700 people.

What are teepees made of ?

Long before the Indians from the plains moved from place to place throughout the year, taking their homes with them, they had lightweight, comfortable, collapsible structures which they called teepees (or tepees or tipis). Teepee is a tall, cone-shaped tent dwelling used by the plains’ Indians, and was made by stretching buffalo skin over a skeleton of 20-30 wooden poles, all slanted towards a central point and tied together near the top. A flap at the top allowed smoke to escape, and a flap at the bottom served as a doorway. Water-resistant and flame-retardant teepees are even produced from the best natural cotton canvas by marquee manufactures and have withstood hard commercial use for many years. The basic design and construction methods of the teepee have also been well established over many years to increase the life of the teepee.

Why are domestic LPG cylinders red?

Domestic LPG cylinders are not always red in colour. For example, blue-coloured cylinders are used in Singapore. Red colour light has the highest wavelength in the visible spectrum. So, it is visible even from a long distance. Red colour is used for anything which is dangerous or urgent. As we know that LPG is highly inflammable, it is painted red for the safety of the consumer.

What is the difference between a notification and a circular?

A notification is issued by a government (central/ state) to exercise the power of a legislative enactment (Parlimentary/ Assembly). These powers are in abundance in taxation (direct/ indirect) legislations. These notifications generally lay down the law taking care of some procedural aspects of the enactment. The circulars are issued by the chief executive in charge of the taxation hierarchy, and are normally explanatory/ interpretative or relax the rigours of the law administered.

Who was the first man in Hindu mythology?

According to the Matsya Purana, sage Manu was the first man (and the first human) created by God. In the above Purana it was mentioned that Lord Brahma created, using his divine powers, the Goddess Shatrupa (as Saraswati was first called) and out of the union of Brahma and Shatrupa was born Manu. Manu obtained through long penance his wife Ananti. The rest of the human race originated from Manu and Ananti. Details about the children of Manu and Ananti are found in the Bhagavata Purana. Manu is also considered to be the author of the ancient Sanskrit code of law, Manu Smriti, which was the summary of a discourse given by Manu to several rishis. The English noun man and the sanskrit verb mun, meaning to think, are supposed to have evolved from the word Manu. Rigveda has a different account of the origin of the human race, which was born from the five children (four male, and one female) of Lord Prajapati, as Brahma was earlier called. Of the two versions, the Matsya Purana is more popular and complete.

How is ink manufactured?

All inks contain two rudimentary components: a pigment or dye called a colourant, and a vehicle which is the liquid into which the colourant is dispersed. Printing inks are more like paints than writing inks — they consist of solid pigments dispersed in an oil. They are, therefore, less fluid. Manufacturing ink is a complicated process, involving the mixture of a pigment with a vehicle, the grinding of the mixture in a mill between rollers, the addition of driers, and, when using chemicallyproduced rather than natural pigments, a filtering process.

What is the pH level of a snake’s poison?

Firstly, a snake has venom and not poison. The pH level of a snake’s venom indicates the concentration level of the poison. The term pH stands for ‘potential of hydrogen’. This is the measure of how acidic or alkaline a substance is. Acids have pH values that are under 7 and alkalies have pH values over 7. If a substance has a pH value of 7, it is neutral — neither acidic nor alkaline.

Where was the first roller coaster set up?

The earliest roller coaster was the Russian winter sled ride, set up in specially constructed hills of ice around Petersburg. It was built in the 17th century. The slides were built to a height of 70 to 80 feet and consisted of a 50-degree drop duly reinforced by wooden supports. The first roller coaster per se was created in Paris in 1804 which was named ‘The Russian Mountains’.

Who are called cosers?

A section of youth in Taiwan who dress up like Japanese animation characters are called cosers. They emulate not just the costumes but even the roles of the characters. Experts view this trend as a way in which these youths try to break out of strict traditions of Chinese society. The act of imitating these characters is called cosplay. The cosers exhibited their flamboyant sense of style during the recently held expo of Japanese manga animation in Taiwan.

How is a country’s GDP measured?

GDP or Gross Domestic Product is the monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period. GDP is customarily reported on an annual basis. It is the nation’s broadest gauge of economic health. It includes all of private and public consumption, government outlays, investments and exports and imports that occur within a defined territory. The most common approach to measuring GDP is the expenditure method: GDP = consumption + investment (government spending) + (exports - imports). Another way of measuring GDP is to measure the total income payable in the GDP income accounts. This should provide the same figure as the expenditure method. Another formula is: GDP = rent + interests + profits + statistical adjustments (like corporate income taxes, dividends, undistributed corporate profits) + wages.

What is special about University of Toulouse?

University of Toulouse is one of the oldest universities of France and is located in Toulouse, a city in Southern France on the banks of the Garonne river. It was found ed in 1229 AD as a result of the Paris Treaty marking the end of the battle between the Roman Catholic Church and its oppo nents. Foulques de Toulouse, the then bishop of Toulouse, played a major role in the setting up of the university. Now, the universi ty has an enrolment exceeding 1,00,000, and is the second largest university in France. The sixteenth century philosopher and astronomer Bruno and the Chemistry Nobel Laureate Sabatier, and the artist Dulac were some of its most illustrious faculty members.

Which is the oldest civilisation in the world?

This has long been a subject of much debate and to this day no one is absolutely sure which is the oldest civilisation. This is mostly because people cannot agree on the definition of the word civilisation. The most common definition of the word is ‘an advanced state of development in human society, marked by progress in the arts and sciences, the extensive use of writing, and complex political and social institutions’. Mesopotamia is considered as the most likely answer to the question, based on archaeological evidence and the above definition. It is believed that Mesopotamian history starts from the emergence of urban societies in Southern Iraq in the 4th millennium.

What is steaming distance?

Steaming distance is the shortest distance between two ports, which a ship traverses while sailing from one port to another. It need not be along a straight line as, due to various physical and political constraints, it may not be always be desirable to sail along straight route.

Why is the alphabet written in a specific order?

The alphabet has often been described as an arbitrary collection of symbols representing an arbitrary collection of sounds. Its order is equally random. The word alphabet comes from alpha and beta, the first two words in the Greek alphabet.

What is a hypercube?

Hypercube is the generalisation in n-dimensions of a square in two dimensions and a cube in three dimensions. A square has four vertices (22), a cube, 8 vertices (23). Similarly, an n-dimensional hypercube has 2n vertices. In the famous painting ‘Christus Hypercubus’, Salvador Dali depicted Christ crucified on an unfolded four-dimensional hypercube. Examining the shadow of a cube reveals a square within a square. Similarly, the shadow of a four-dimensional hypercube will be a cube within a cube.

What is the difference between Marxism and Socialism?

Socialism is a modern doctrine and is Western in origin, emerging with the development of industrial capitalism at the start of the nineteenth century. Socialism denotes a broad system of ideas. Marxism is a materialistic conception of history which seeks to explain the development of all societies and furthermore, make predictions about future social change. Marxists consider the material world, nature and society as constantly moving. Whereas, the socialists emphasise the organic unity of society. Marxists consider the material world as an integrated whole in which all things and phenomena are interconnected and interdependent. Whereas, socialists believe in equality and abolition of private enterprise. Marxism provides a scientific explanation of nature and society and hence, was a powerful instrument for revolutionary transformation. The society envisaged by socialists rests on certain values: redistribution of wealth to get rid of inequality, cooperative production to get rid of selfish competitors and new patterns of work and education to promote the growth of wellrounded individuals.

Where was the first spa?

The word spa originates from the Belgian town of Spa, where since mediaeval times, those with iron deficiency illnesses were given iron-rich spring water. This was perhaps the world’s first spa. The concept of medicinal bathing later made its way to England, most notably to the town of Bath. An Englishman William Slingsby discovered a spring in Yorkshire, in which he created an enclosed well. It came to known as Harrogate, which was the UK’s first resort for medicinal water. Later, another Englishman named Timothy Bright called his resort ‘The English Spaw’ (after the Belgian town), which was when the word became synonymous with a place for medicinal treatments and relaxation.

What are the Special Olympics?

Special Olympics is an international organisation created to help people with intellectual disabilities develop self-confidence, social skills and a sense of personal accomplishment through sports training and competition. Among their other activities, Special Olympics conducts the Special Olympics World Games every four years. This year it is taking place in China.

What does the acronym Scuba stand for?

Scuba stands for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus: the word has become an adjective to describe the popular aquatic sport scuba diving. By carrying a source of compressed air, the scuba diver is able to stay underwater longer than with the simple breathholding techniques used in snorkelling and free diving, and is not hindered by airlines to a remote air source.