From You Tube Blog

We’re excited to say that support for watching 1080p HD videos in full resolution is on its way. Starting next week, YouTube’s HD mode will add support for viewing videos in 720p or 1080p, depending on the resolution of the original source, up from our maximum output of 720p today.

As resolution of consumer cameras increases, we want to make sure YouTube is the best home on the web to showcase your content. For viewers with big monitors and a fast computer, try switching to 1080p to get the most out of the fullscreen experience.

We were talking to our family and friends  to pass our Diwali greetings. It’s such a wonderful feeling to talk to friends and family members for the first time from US without the worry of  phone bill/balance/recharge/time remaining/… Thanks to Vonage World Calling Plan.

I noticed another something different while talking to India through Vonage.  We were using Reliance to call India before Vonage World Plan was introduced, always during festival time, new year,.. Reliance lines will  be busy, we have to try many times, before call will connect. That was not the case with Vonage (Maybe Reliance could be different if we tried today)

Increase Vonage Call Quality

Eventhough we didn’t experience connection issues during our calls to India, call quality was less. There were noise disturbances during the phone call. Many of you might not be aware of one of the features offered by Vonage, which will allow us to increase the call quality by changing the bandwidth used by vonage connection.

• Go to Login to Vonage Account >  Features > Bandwidth Saver

3 Bandwidth options (30, 50 and 90 kbps) will be listed. Set the bandwidth to 90kbps and within few minutes, noise disturbances in the call was almost gone. If you have dial-up internet connection,  this might slow down your internet connection, but with High Speed Cable/DSL connections, you will not find any impact to your browsing speed.

World Calling plan had vonage free calls to India, but we have to use the landline. People around the net, started talking about calling India using iPhone or blackberry using same plan and some were considering Lingo, which offers plan to call from Cell Phone to India for free. ( It comes with 2 years contract)

Apple approved Vonage iPhone app, that will allow calls to India for 7 cents per minute. Reliance India Call and AirTel Call home has the same deal, but Vonage iPhone app uses Wi-Fi, so your Cell Phone minutes will not be affected.

This is very cool feature. Using Reliance and Airtel will use the cell phone minutes, but not the case with Vonage. I haven’t tried it yet, but planning to give it a try.

It would be nice to make free calls to India using Voip from iPhone that includes option to use World Calling Plan. But, this is a good start for Vonage.

I got forwarded email “How to Take Care of Your Wife”.

In the world, one single rule applies to the men: Make the Woman happy. Do something she likes, and you get points. Do something she dislikes and points are subtracted. You don’t get any points for doing something she expects. Sorry, that’s the way the game is played.

SIMPLE DUTIES

• You make the bed (+1)
• You make the bed, but forget the decorative pillow (0)
• You throw the bedspread over rumpled sheets (-1)
• You go out to buy her what she wants (+5)
• In the rain (+8)
• But return with Beer (-5)
• You check out a suspicious noise at night (0)
• You check out a suspicious noise, and it is nothing (0)
• You check out a suspicious noise and it is something (+5)
• You pummel it with iron rod (+10)
• It’s her pet (-10)

SOCIAL ENGAGEMENTS

• You stay by her side the entire party (0)
• You stay by her side for a while, then leave to chat with a college buddy (-2)
• Named Tina (-4)
• Tina is a dancer (-10)

HER BIRTHDAY

• You take her out to dinner (0)
• You take her out to dinner and it’s not a sports bar (+1)
• Okay, it’s a sports bar (-2)
• And it’s all-you-can- eat night (-3)
• It’s a sports bar, it’s all-you-can- eat night, and your face is painted the colours of your favourite team (-10)

A NIGHT OUT

• You take her to a movie (+2)
• You take her to a movie she likes (+4)
• You take her to a movie you hate (+6)
• You take her to a movie you like (-2)
• It’s called ‘DeathCop’ (-3)
• You lied and said it was a foreign film about orphans (-15)

YOUR PHYSIQUE

• You develop a noticeable potbelly (-15)
• You develop a noticeable potbelly and exercise to get rid of it (+10)
• You develop a noticeable potbelly and resort to baggy jeans and baggy Hawaiian shirts (-30)
• You say, “It doesn’t matter, you have one too.” (-8000)

ENJOY THE ‘BIG’ QUESTION

• She asks, “Do I look fat?” (-5) [Yes, you LOSE points no matter WHAT]
• You hesitate in responding (-10)
• You reply, “Where?” (-35)
• Any other response (-20)

COMMUNICATION

• When she wants to talk about a problem , you listen, displaying what looks like a concerned _____expression (0)
• You listen, for over 30 minutes (+50)
• You listen for more than 30 minutes without looking at the TV (+500)
• She realizes this is because you have fallen asleep (-10000)

So how many points did you score.

Although President Obama has put off an immigration overhaul until next year, the federal agency in charge of approving visas is planning ahead for the possibility of giving legal status to millions of illegal immigrants, the agency’s director said Thursday.

We are under way to prepare for that,” Alejandro Mayorkas, the director of the agency, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, said in an interview. Mr. Obama has told immigration officials that a legalization program would be part of legislation the White House would propose, said Mr. Mayorkas, who became director in August. The agency’s goal, he said, is to be ready to expand rapidly to handle the gigantic increase in visa applications it would face if the legislation, known as comprehensive immigration reform, passed Congress. Via NewYork Times

Friend of mine recently meet with Senator John Cornyn’s Immigration Specialist  from Texas about Green Card issues and Comprehensive Immigration reform.

Also, you can read more about his calculation on 22 years for Green Card in EB3.

Use http://whoismyrepresentative.com/ to find your the congressman and senator.

We signed-up for  Vonage World Calling month back. Using referral and Vonage 20% discounts we get Vonage Free Calls to India for $18 per month.

But, first questions we had after signing up for world calling plan – How to call India in using Vonage?

• Call – 011 + Country Code + Area Code + Number
• Landline India : 011 + 91 + Area Code + phone number
• Mobile India : 011 + 91 + Cell  Number
• To Hide Caller Id in Vonage :  *67 + Number

Where 011 is the International Access code. Codes of major cities of India include 44 for Chennai, 80 for Bangalore and 11 for Delhi.

List of Google products I use ( or have used) in random order. Over 75% of the following list I to use frequently.

After reading this list, you would agree that life is close to impossible without Google products. Yahoo or Microsoft  doesn’t offer same number of tools like Google.

1. Gmail
2. Gmail Offline
3. Google Apps
4. Search ( and blog search)
5. Reader
6. Adwords
7. Google Maps
8. Toolbar
9. iGoogle
10. Google Talk
11. Google chat
12. YouTube
13. Google Video
14. Adsense ( + plugin for IE)
15. Google Suggest
16. Google Hot Trends
17. Google Keyword Tool
18. Webmaster Tools
19. Orkut
20. Feedburner
21. Chrome
22. Google Finance
23. Google Calendar
24. Google Checkout
25. Google Voice
26. Blogger
27. Google Groups
28. Picassaweb
29. Google Earth
30. Google Alerts
31. Google Custom Search
32. Scholar
33. Gears
34. Docs
35. Sets
36. Insights for Search

Is there any product in here that is completely new to you? If so you leave a comment.