Niponwave

There sites and services have become part of my life. They have become most essential  and such is my dependence on them that without them daily life comes to an abrupt halt!

Gmail

Yes Gmail has to be number one. The first thing I check after connecting. It is central to all my online activities. Gmail revolutionised the concept of email by introducing a whopping 1 GB inbox. Before that we had to be content with 4 MB from Yahoo. And a clean uncluttered interface full with features like labels and filters. While filters where already there, they became more popular with Gmail only and we had no labels before, Yahoo only gave us folders. I plan to write more about how can use Gmail in your favour to take control of your online activities.

Wikipedia

The most trusted reference source. Anything I need to know, I invariably look up Wikipedia. I access Wikipedia from the in-built search box of Firefox so that I can directly land on the desired article without having to load the Wikipedia homepage again and again. Firefox makes life simple. See?

Answers.com

This again is right there in my Firefox search box. Whenever I need to know the meaning of a particular word or an idiom or a phrase, Answers.com is my best friend. The interface is pretty neat. Just a while ago I wanted to check how the word ’swell’ can be used as an adjective. This is what I got -

adj. Informal., swell·er, swell·est.

1. Fashionably elegant; stylish.
2. Excellent; wonderful: had a swell time.

IMDb

This is the big fat site on movies. It is like the wikipedia of movies full with movie trivias, reviews, user comments, actor bio and what not - just everything you would like to know about movies. Best of all, it is mostly user-contributed stuff. I belong to that breed who look up IMDb before deciding whether to watch a movie!

Orkut

This social networking site has been like a phenomenon in India. Best way to keep in touch with friends.

Facebook

Although not as popular as Orkut, with increasing penetration of broadband internet, Facebook has seen a spurt in their growth in India over the past 1 years. And guess what, Orkut has copied many of their ideas!

Google

How could I miss! This should have been number one. Oops! We really take Google for granted! Ha ha! Google also sits tight in my Firefox search box. When I hear there is going to be a bandh on a future date, what I do is google with bengal bandh!

IRCTC

Since I have to travel by train in between Siliguri and Calcutta several times a year, IRCTC is a site I have fallen in love with! No more waiting in the long queues for hours! I like the e-ticket most. Just get a printout, arm yourself with an identity card and you are set for the journey. The i-ticket which comes at a slightly extra charge is delivered via courier at your doorstep. Although i-ticket is a real ticket (unlike a prinout and doesn’t require you to carry any identity), the problem is the ticket has to be received at a physical address, something not always possible in today’s fast-paced life. What’s more, e-ticket can be cancelled online whereas to cancel an i-ticket you have to go to the ticket booking counter! I think this online booking system is one of the best things to have happened to the Indian Railways. Who would disagree with me!

Delicious

This is another very useful site. It is actually a social bookmarking site. It saves and stores all your bookmarks for you to access from anywhere. Not just that, you also get to see what others are bookmarking. Using Del.icio.us does make sense so that next time you format your computer you don’t have to lose all your favourite links you have bookmarking for years. I use a Firefox extension that makes saving bookmarks to del.icio.us all the more easy! Will write more about extension I use in Firefox in my very next post.