Rambling Thoughts

Google search engine has published its India Zeitgeist, a look at 2008 through the collective eyes of the Indian users on the web. The 2008 year-end India Zeitgeist offers a unique perspective on the year’s major events and hottest trends based on searches conducted by users in India.

Some facts about Google Searches of 2008 in India

• YouTube becomes the fastest rising search term in 2008.
• Orkut and Gmail remain the most popular networking and communication properties for Indian users.
• Katrina Kaif is the most searched Bollywood celebrity during 2008.
• Goa is listed as the number one search query for India’s top ten most popular holiday destination searches.
• Tennis star Sania Mirza tops the list showing that cricket is not our only passion!
• 3 Gandhis on this list, showing that ‘Gandhigiri’ rules Indian minds.

“Google analyzed various aspects of the search queries to understand what was on the minds of Internet users in India. We retrieved the most frequently-searched terms for the period across many categories like Bollywood Celebrities, Holiday destinations etc. In addition we also looked at the top 10 fastest rising search words in India. This was done by reviewing several thousands of 2008’s most popular searches and ranking them based on how much their popularity increased compared to 2007. Taken together, we believe that all these lists define the true Zeitgeist or the “spirit of the times.” Vinay Goel said .

Fastest Rising Searches of 2008 in India

1. YouTube
2. Orkut
3. Katrina Kaif
4. Cricket
5. IRCTC
6. Facebook
7. Genelia D’souza
8. Beijing 2008 Olympic games
9. Sixth pay commission
10. IPL

Most Popular Searches of 2008 in India

1. Orkut
2. Gmail
3. Yahoo
4. Google
5. YouTube
6. Yahoomail
7. Indian Railways
8. Rediff
9. Cricket
10. Katrina Kaif

Top searches on Mobile

1. Orkut
2. Yahoo
3. Waptrick
4. Gmail
5. Games
6. Katrina Kaif
7. Rediffmail
8. Yahoomail
9. Namitha
10. Google

Top Bollywood Celebrities

1. Katrina Kaif
2. Aishwarya Rai
3. Salman Khan
4. Hrithik Roshan
5. Kareena Kapoor
6. Shahid Kapur
7. Deepika Padukone
8. Shahrukh Khan
9. Mallika Sherawat
10. Genelia D’souza

Top holiday destinations

1. Goa
2. Kerala
3. Kashmir
4. Dubai
5. Singapore
6. Australia
7. London
8. Shimla
9. Switzerland
10. Manali

Top ‘how to’ searches

1. How to reduce weight
2. How to kiss
3. How to earn money
4. How to get pregnant
5. How to learn English
6. How to gain weight
7. How to play guitar
8. How to create a website
9. How to impress a girl
10. How to tie a tie

Most Popular Sports stars

1. Sania Mirza
2. Sachin Tendulkar
3. Cristiano Ronaldo
4. John Cena
5. Dhoni
6. David Beckham
7. Brett Lee
8. Khali
9. Kaka
10. Roger Federer

Most Popular Politicians

1. Mahatma Gandhi
2. Raj Thackeray
3. Sarah Palin
4. Sonia Gandhi
5. Barack Obama
6. Indira Gandhi
7. Rahul Gandhi
8. Abdul Kalam
9. Manmohan Singh
10. Mayawati

Most Popular Movies

1. Jodha Akbar
2. Dasavatharam
3. Singh Is King
4. Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
5. Jannat
6. Tashan
7. Ganesha
8. Fashion
9. Rock On
10. Race

Most Popular “days”

1. Independence Day
2. Valentine’s Day
3. Friendship Day
4. Teacher’s Day
5. Earth Day
6. Republic Day
7. Mothers Day
8. Women’s Day
9. Father’s Day
10. World Environment Day

Most Popular Government websites

1. Indianrail.gov.in
2. Cbseresults.nic.in
3. Incometaxindia.gov.in
4. Mca.gov.in
5. Incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in
6. Passport.nic.in
7. Tn.gov.in
8. Cbse.nic.in
9. Sebi.gov.in
10. Indiapost.gov.in

Gmail has rolled out a new feature which is currently being made available through the Gmail Labs - a simple and lightweight Task Manager. Gmail Task is a pretty simple application which would allow Gmail users to post items which they need to do, presented through a pop-out window/tab that are visible when while scanning the Gmail inbox.

But aside from giving a simple task manager which would let users posts the things they need to do as a reminder, Gmail Task also lets users to convert existing Gmail message into en entry for the  Task manager.

Once users convert their emails, it is automatically listed as a task item.

For more specific details, check out the Official Gmail Blog.

Today when i logged into my gmail account, I saw a new alert informing me about new feature - Gmail Themes. Now you don’t have to use extra 3rd party plugins to give a fresh look to your mailbox. Some of the themes are really exciting. Like the one I installed which changes as per day time of your location. Isn’t this exciting!!!

Here is what Gmail’s help center says:

“In some cases, you can also customize by location. Some themes change during the day, and we use the location information you provide to correctly time these changes with your local sunrise, sunset, and/or weather. If you select one of these themes, you’ll see a Country/Region drop-down menu appear.”

Read More