Google's URL Shortener Blocked on Alfa Telecom

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Earlier today during my morning ritual, I was browsing my twitter feed on my mobile, powered by Alfa Telecom's mobile data, and came across a couple of interesting tweets. I clicked the link in the tweet only to land on the page below:

The text reads:
This site has been blocked upon order from Lebanese courts

Naturally my initial assumption was that the target site or article was blocked and it seemed plausible since it was a news site. This sort of things is not unusual around here. Then I noticed that the URL was still showing Google's URL shortener goo.gl.

I tried a few other links that had this service and they all returned the same blocked page. The last verification step involved trying to open the serice itself on the bare URL goo.gl. Receiving the same page I private messaged some friends and took it to twitter to see if others had been facing the same issue.

The findings are as follows:

• Some users on Alfa Telecom  like myself reported the same problem
• Surprisingly others on Alfa's network were opening the site normally.
• Touch users I contacted were issue-free.
• I was able to personally verify that Sodetel was working.
• IDM & Cyberia users reported it was working fine
• Corporate users on Ogero have reportedly been able to open the URL
• Furthermore at the time of writing this piece I was able to open again the URL on my Alfa subscription

With so many conflicting reports one is unable to draw any conclusions on this matter. My best guess is that it's a mis-configuration of some sorts on their DNS or Cache Engine. Let me know in the comments if you were able to open this on your local ISP or if you also encountered the blocked page

Inbox By Gmail, A Contender To The Throne

When the new Inbox application by Gmail was announced a few days ago, I got so trigger-happy in sending the email requesting an invitation that I requested the invite twice from my personal Gmail and from my Business Google Apps account (more on that last one later).
But I had been through this experience before (Ingress, Google Gallery...), and it can be really lengthy, so I did what any self-respecting technology-dependant person would do: I shamelessly intruded on one of the nicest guys I know, who also happens to work at Google, and pleaded my case.
I make it sound way more dramatic that it actually was, since the Inbox invite landed quite quickly in my inbox (see what I did there?) with a "You're welcome" and a big smile.

It's been almost 24 hours since I installed Inbox and I am surprisingly quite won-over compared to my usual resistance and cynicism as to why an app would want to re-invent an existing app that does pretty much everything one needs. I had been nothing but constantly gladly surprised by the Gmail app and Inbox was giving me the jitters.

Bottom line, it works!
It just works gracefully and smoothly sorting out flawlessly existing emails in your inbox into various labels such as Travel, Purchases, Finance, Social, Updates, Forums, Promos while allowing you to create your own bundled label under your inbox. Your existing filters and old labels are still shown as unbundled labels.
Material design oozes from every element of the app and its web counterpart (yes you get a web interface at inbox.google.com once you get your invite). The compose button is a much welcome deja-vu from Google+. The web version maintains Hangouts integration while inconspicuously tucking it in under an icon in the header Google bar.

My main concern using the app was how it reflects on my existing inbox. Would sweeping an email or a folder delete it, hide it, archive it? I quickly found those answers using the Getting Started documentation.
Notifications are now center-stage in the Inbox app and I wanted to see how it all fits in with Google Now, so I set a reminder using voice command and surely enough when I switched to Inbox it was showing prominently on top.
One interesting feature that seems present although I did not have the chance to test is the location based notification when the app detects a geographically-linked action in your inbox.

When Trying to Access
your Google Apps Email

What Inbox still lacks are mostly all the bells and whistles we've grown accustomed to in Gmail:

• No integration with Google Drive for attachments,
• No custom notification sound, although bundled labels do have some advanced notification settings
• No settings for auto image downloading
• No auto responder or signature
• No settings for turning on  and off the Reply All option.
• No availability for Google Apps 

The lack of features might be unsettling at first but given the fact we are still at the early release stages of Inbox, I am pretty sure that plenty more enhancement are still on the drawing board. Along with all the feedback that will be pouring in, Inbox seems all set to be a serious contender for the throne of email apps.

April's Fools vs Google

Any resemblance between this picture
and real characters is purely coincidental 

I have been playing pranks on friends, colleagues and family for as long as I remember. And by prank, I could be referring to something from a very short "one-liner", all the way to a more complex elaborate set-up. The only rules I set for myself for running pranks were the following:

1. Always keep it light
2. Make sure that even the victim can find some humor in it eventually.
3. Make sure nobody is hurt physically but also psychologically in the process.
4. Never prank anyone on April 1st. 

While we may go into debate on how humor is subjective and how the victim might still be hurt and pretend to find it funny, I won't open that can of worms at this time. Instead i want to talk about the pranks that take place on April 1st and why I do not jump on the bandwagon with everybody on that day.

Humor is indeed subjective, some studies have associated it with intellect, others with cultural background and some with personalities. I think they are all right and that it's a mix of each.
So inviting everybody to pull off their own stunt is basically like having a prank-orgy day which, in my book, amounts to just one big accident waiting to happen.
Yes, yes, I know, I should lighten up but the amount of lame, half-baked jokes I have witnessed on this day has exceeded any tolerance level I could have.

And then came Google. With their carefully crafted, witty and well balanced jokes and hoaxes, they managed to restore my faith that April Fools' can be a fun thing especially for those of us with a lively presence online.
The list was endless and more and more creative as years went by. You can check it here on Wikipedia.

But then also came 2014. In the Era of the Hyper-Connected Society and Online Trends, almost anybody who was anybody, from Tech firms to SMEs decided they were...Google, and took a shot at being funny.
Well, here's news for you...you are not...pretty much like this post or my entire blog. It's not funny and humor is purely accidental here.
And here I am back to hating April 1st because of its fools...not the ones who fall victim to pranks but those who think they have succeeded in pulling a fast one.
This time over, we can't even hide online...Geez! thanks y'all...

Tribal 2.0: The Great Digital Divide

We are Tribes, we always have been and we always will be. We gang up alongside those who look like us, talk like us, think like us but are not just quite us. We may call ourselves nations, states, societies and communities, but in fact, all we are is tribes unified around one or several common values and united by the motto: Members of the Tribe Come First (regardless of how idiotic, blind-sighted or annoying they are)

In today's connected world one would argue that the barriers maintaining tribal segregation would be eroded, blurred, gone. Perhaps in some measure they are.  Google translate brings down language barriers, Skype saves us the trouble of crossing borders, Facebook puts us in touch with long lost friends...yet we still manage to align ourselves in tribes. We pick sides even when there is no side to pick, we trash-talk the other side over a piece of technology which we don't even own but merely use.

Today's tribal feuds are digital, they live on the web, in virtual space, on the banks of social media channels.
Here's a brief look at some of those I run into most frequently:

• Mac vs PC:  In the beginning there was the mainframe but who cares about that. This is where the action took place as digital was unraveling itself. It still does in some way but this has been one of the oldest running digital feuds. Countless are the arguments breaking out in college cafeterias, dorm rooms and classrooms between supporters of each with a side dish of sarcasm by Linux lovers.
  This rivalry sparked a series of very successful ads by Apple.
  
  
• Microsoft vs Google: A software company hating on a search engine? what am I missing there? But we all know that Microsoft outgrew its software manufacturer a long time ago and that Google has spread its wings far beyond search. Google's Gmail, Chrome Browsers, Chrome OS and Apps were gaining ground on the supremacy of Microsoft's Hotmail, Internet Explorer, Windows and Office.
  The fans of each side are often arguing the merits of one or the other. My personal observation is that those who emerge from a corporate environment tend to support the more institutional Microsoft while Start-Ups, freelancers, hackers are pro Google. Left in the middle is the average computer user.
  This probably would explain an entire campaign entitled "Scroogled" aimed at taking jabs at Google's array of products in order to portray Microsoft's under a brighter light. Interestingly enough, Google have not reacted to this.
  
  

• Apple Fanboys vs Fandroids: So we've had Microsoft and Apple fans going at it for starters, closely followed Microsoft and Google supporters having their own little thing happening, so it would not be right if we didn't have Apple and Google fans at each others' throats. While I have been an Android user for as long as I remember I cannot deny the merits of either platform. The issue is that of relevance. If the fruit makes you happy bite into that by all means. Both are here to stay, both borrow from each other and the only one to profit is us the consumers. Of course if you ever hoped to work for either company and got turned down, we won't hold it against you if you spent your day bashing their product. After all we are all humans and we can't all handle rejection well.
  
  
   
• Facebook vs Google+: This might be the mildest of all the controversies you can see. Facebookers argue that Google+ is a ghost-town and that Google is pushing it down the throat of everybody who uses any Google product. The latter simply shrug their shoulders and poke fun at all the privacy concerns that have infected Facebook and the type of users and content that is being generated there.
  It's worth noticing that these two giants are probably going to end up doing the same thing. Facebook is spinning off new products (messenger, paper...) from its main platform while Google is connecting all is products (YouTube, Blogger, Android...) via its social platform. I guess it's a wait and see game.
  
  

There are certainly other examples to draw on from the House of Tech and the Clan of McSocial (Canon vs Nikon, Xbox vs PlayStation...) but I am sure you can dig-up more on those on your own or even better, give first hand example on your participation in one or the other. What matters at the end of the day is not what technology are you using but rather what are you using the technology for and is it the most appropriate one to achieve the goals you initially set-off to achieve.

I would love to hear your contributions below in the comments on these and other topics so don't hesitate to share your Tribal 2.0 experience.