I am on Reversim.com

Just did a fun podcast on http://reversim.com with my friends Ran Tavori and Ori Lahav.

Check it out (All in Hebrew).

It's about what makes a good engineer.

Frank

Chrome and Youtube issues

We're sorry, this video is no longer available....

Interesting how sometimes even Google can be sloppy.  I am getting a lot of errors on youtube if I use Google Chrome.  The message I get is:

"We're sorry, this video is no longer available...."  

If  I copy the URL and put it in IE or FF then all works well. I think Youtube should put a warning:  "This site is optimized to work with Microsoft IE" :)

Apparently, I am not the only one also: http://antivirus.about.com/b/2008/09/03/googles-chrome-may-need-polishing.htm

Anybody has a workaround for this or should we wait for the next update of Chrome?

Another Gmail issue - Import contacts

Sometimes I am wondering how bugs like that could slip through Google's nets.
While trying to switch gmail accounts, I tried to export my contacts from one account in order to export them onto the other one.

It just doesn't work the message I get is:


Oops. An unknown error occured while importing your contacts.


Come on Google do something here.

I am a PC Weenies guest!!

Hey I finally made it big, I am a PC Weenies guest.
All this thanks to my previous post on slow typers :)

Check this out: http://pcweenies.net/2008/06/04/guest-starring-frank-smadja/

My gmail account is locked down!@!

Google is going crazy on me. While I was normally trying to send an email by clicking on "compose" in gmail, I got locked out of gmail and got this ugly message: "Your account is locked down because of suspected unusual activity"

Google says:
Unusual account activity includes, but is not limited to:

1. Receiving, deleting, or downloading large amounts of mail via POP in a short period of time.
2. Sending a large number of undeliverable messages (messages that bounce back).
3. Using file-sharing or file-storage software, browser extensions, or third party software that automatically logs in to your account.
4. Leaving multiple instances of your Gmail account open.
5. Browser-related issues. Please note that if you find your browser continually reloading while attempting to access your Inbox, it’s probably a browser issue, and it may be necessary to clear your browser’s cache and cookies.

I am sometimes doing number 4 - That is using gmail on several browsers, but I was not doing this this morning.

This is a serious issue as I am incapacitated without my email, docs, address book, etc. Nobody to speak to at Google. Any idea, suggestion?

Luckily my Blogger account is not locked down.

*UPDATE* - Google unlocked my account after a couple of hours. I got scared and started thinking of a plan B. No harm done this time.

Things I don't like and things I like

• I hate it when I am doing a chat session with somebody who is a slow typer
• I love it when code I write runs on the first try
  

Searching attachments in Gmail

I have been wondering this for about a year now, my answer to myself has always been: "They are probably working on it and by the time you blog about it it will be avalaible for all."

Well, it's been over a year now and it still is not available yet; so here it is:

Why can't I search my attachments from withing Gmail??

I mean, if somebody sends me an attachment in an email, there is no way for me to search within this attachment that I know of. The only workaround I found so far is to import the attachment to Google docs and then it becomes searchable from within Google docs. But I mean this is really cumbersome.

Isn't Google supposed to organize the world's information and make it accessible and useful? How about my own information?

Love the US open?

Please answer the opinion poll below -

Thanks

Frank

Ball in the mail

I just received a ball in the mail. A real ball, all inflated and all. The stamp was on the ball and my address too. It has been sent by Julian Cash because he enjoyed one my papers on tag clustering. Here's a Web friendly version written by Philipp Keller; Mail me if you want to read the original paper.

Thanks to Julian Cash for his creativity.

Facebook ads are evil

I really think that Facebook ads are obnoxious and very bothering. See the one below on my personal profile? They even have some that blink in big red letters.

Is this what one should expect of the rising star of the Web2.0 sites?
Is this how they are getting some $80 million a year?

Am I missing something here? Free cash on Facebook??