Pritam Pebam
Note: Recently my web host went down along with my files. Some of the posts are re posted with new dates and might have missing images. Please don't get frustrated if the images are missing; will try my best to recover them!!
Google has done a lot to improve its emailing features and User interaction through the Labs module. However, I strongly felt that the gmail labs lack one ‘mundane’ feature which everyone needs and would be happy to include with; and that is - an urgency rating system.
If you are one person who uses the email service frequently to communicate, you perhaps must have come to notice that the rating system is extremely essential.
What Google can add to its labs feature is a 5 options rating module, say something like the one shown on the right. The module is suppose to rate the urgency of the email.
What one usually does is read the email he or she receives first, and so the last email you sent, even though it is urgent, could be read last. It’s kind of a FIFO arrangement. You can mention in the subject line, the degree of urgency but there is a better way to do that.
Visual Design and Usability are two factors web developers and web designers need to focus with. The two factors are the two ends of a scale, the more you try to add usability, the visual design can be compromised; the more attractive the website is, the less user friendly it may become. www.articlecity.info has a good article on web visual design and Usability.
Recently…errr well not really, it was a while ago since i’ve been thinking about the procedure to protecting one’s original idea/concept about something… I said IDEA or CONCEPT.The first thing that came into my mind was of a Copyright Protection. However, copyright doesn’t protect your ideas/concepts. I’ve gone through some of the US and Indian copyright protection handbook and that led me to the conclusion that copyright, in any case, doesn’t protect your ideas from being ‘copied’.The question arises now… Can an idea be protected??
Yes. An idea can be protected in the form of an invention. Patenting the creation and the technical drawings (related to the idea) is one option but someone in the university, a student or any individual may not be ready to spend the handful amount of dollars required to get the idea patented. Copyright, on the other hand is cheap and protects your idea in the form of an innovation or original creation. If you’ve created something, putting a © symbol protects your creation but however, you need to register it (which though requires a small fee) if in case legal issues are to be fought. Putting a© symbol conveys that the creation is copyright property and just putting the symbol ensures it rights. For federal acts or legal proceedings, valid registration with the Copyright Protection Department in your country is essential.
Other ways to protect your ideas include submission of your ideas to organisations. Many of which are available online and some charges small amount of fees while others doesn’t. Another way is to mail yourself all the required documents provided the envelop in still sealed. This is valid only when there is a date stamped on the envelop by the post office and which represents the date on which your idea becomes ‘yours’. However, this method is not much recommended.Bottomline is, turn your idea into an innovation first…
