Gmail lost and found
The story in single line: I lost my Gmail account!
I wake up one morning last week and I could not log on. Simple. Typed and retyped the latest password as I remembered it. Normally I make the browser retain it for a few days. I cross-checked the correctness of the password with what I had scribbled in my scrapbook. It was right, but not good enough for an open sesame! Wait, was it the one that lay tattooed between my toes? Tried that too. But no joy!
What about “Forgot Password” routine? Wait man, why hurry? Read on!
Big deal? Yes. Because my Gmail account is linked to the whole load of components of the Google suite which I use for two reasons:
- they are good and efficient and
- they are Free!
And to list the the bundle of services:
- Google Adsense – by far the most important one although I am yet to hit pay dirt!
- Picasaweb – where my entire photo collection resides – spent many a midnight oil to upload what with <30 kbps Broad (read “Fraud”) band connection – but why do they call it 256 kbps? That is another story. Don’t digress!
- Google Notebook – where I have Ctrl+C-ed and Ctrl+V-ed all important snippets of information scraped from many a website for future use as a comprehensive plagiarized resource on various subjects planned to be shared albsolutely free with the community ( I believe in everything Free – as in Free Lunch!)
- Blogger account that facilitates spraying my comments profusely in Blogspot-run blogs without much ado
- Groups I run and participate – what would I do without indulging in a daily dose of flame wars in those groups. Folks would miss me over there. After office politics, email groups satiate my innate propensity towards scandal and polemics
- Docs and spreadsheets – where I have kept most of my collaborative work
- Knol
- App engine
- Analytics
- Reader
- Sites
- Youtube videos
- Many eCommerce sites where this particular Gmail Id is the username
- Plus over 9000+ email messages (“Conversations” in Gmail parlance!) that have been tucked away for keeps bearing testimony for my faculty of procrastination (Why, it is still only 25% of the total space so generously allotted by Gmail. Why do you grumble!). Some day I’ll read them all, Promise! (Not the viagra stuff, anyway)
Perils of a “single sign-on” facility – laziness has its own risks!
You agree then that I had a problem at hand. I had to somehow get back the Gmail account in tact. My whole digital life depends on it. Rather the well being of the posterity is pivoted on it. So the society has a responsibility in getting it restored to the rightful owner.
Ok. That is settled. Now to the nitty-grtties. I clicked the link tauntingly asking you “Can’t access your account?”, like anybody wise enough to lose one’s Gmail account would do.
I correctly keyed in my username which was very clever of me to remember. It was actually a nickname which my classmates used liberally to ridicule me. I specifically selected it since I could never forget the stigma attached to the word. Then it led me to a Captcha routine which I passed, though they resembled the snarled hieroglyphic charts that the doctors used for testing color blindness.
Then to my horror, I was asked to answer a secret question which even in my wildest dream would not have selected in the first place. It asks “Who was your first girl friend?” No fears! Danger indeed. Someone has hacked (or, cracked/) into my Gmail account. Someone who is up to no good. Sure thing. I have to do something about it pronto.
So on the next page I selected the radio button against “My account has been compromised” which in my opinion amply reflected the reality.
Then comes the “nub”, as good ol’ P.G. Wodehouse would exclaim.
I had to undergo a form-filling ritual answering questions that call for data on the very genesis of the impugned Gmail account. Yes. Right from its date of birth.
Here is the screenshot of the obstacle race arena:
I couldn’t recapitulate any historical data about my Gmail account. But I tried to rack my brains – both hemispheres alternately, but to no avail. But as a man who is wordly wise, I filled all the form elements with the best available dat and submitted.
Pat came the reply with 24 hours deeply regretting and profusely apologizing for their inability to return my account they were unable to verify that I own this account based on the information I provided and that Google had completed their investigation. But the Google team provided me another chance to submit the information called for.
Fair enough.
I thought I have to be serious and do something to drill deep into the recess of my neuronic network as well as the gazillions of files stored in the various partitions and folders of my hard disk(s) – both internal and external.
My, my! Did it not call for real work!
But in the end it was Eureka! I could dig out an old email sent by a friend inviting me to Gmail some light years back That was the day my Gmail account was born. The precious email message was ensconced in the good ol’ Outlook express which I had divorced ages ago before I got admitted into the exclusive Geek’s club! Anything to do with the “Evil Empire” was a taboo!
And rest was very easy. I could furnish the email IDs that frequently send mails to and all such stuff with ease.
And believe me and have faith in the veritable cyber God, the Google that they are efficient, they are considerate and they are empathetic.
Bingo! I got a reply within a span of 12 hours restoring my Gmail account with all its limbs in tact. No damage done.
Thanks to the good folks in Google. But the episode has taught me a lesson.
The moral of the story is this:
- Keep a record of the date of opening of your Gmail account
- Jot down the email IDs of people to whom you send emails frequently
- Give an alternate email address in another server to the Gmail settings and write down that address
- Update the secret question which you can easily remember and also write it down somewhere
- Change your password and make it difficult to guess
Now over to Gmail Utopia!
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How much of your life is Google’d!
“It starts out as a convenience, becomes a habit, then a necessity, and finally an addiction.”
That is how Robert X.Cringley succinctly sums up the Google phenomenon!
Here is a partial list of the Google’s on line services – or staple offerings in addition to the Numero Uno status on web search (you don’t search any more, you merely Google it!):
- The ubiquitous Gmail (still Beta!)
- Online productivity suite – Docs, spreadsheets, presentations..
- Picasa web albums for storing and sharing images – may be a shade less popular than the professional looking Flickr of Yahoo!
- Blogger – that ushered in a “push-button” publishing revolution
- YouTube – the video service that has made itself a generic term for anything video; (and you are living in a “Youtube era”!)
- Orkut, the social networking app – though lagging behind Facebook and Myspace in popularity
- Google apps and labs – the production suite of geeks – Android, Gear, Ajax API’s, App engines, OpenSocial – the list is endless
- Google maps, Google Earth – mind-boggling stuff!
- Google Talk – mark my words, it will beat Skype soon!
- Adsense, the intelligent ad-inserting service that has turned blogging profitable – “pro-bloggers”, anyone!
- And Feedburner, Notebook, Calender, Reader, iGoogle, …
And when Google servers experienced a brief outage last week the sky almost fell on many addicts.
Here is Bob’s take on the perils of getting too dependent on Google, or, anyone particular service.
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Youtube clones
Youtube has become the generic term for a video sharing website!
But there are several such sites now on the web, and not all of them are clones of Youtube in the real sense of the term, since some of them offer many add-ons and embellishments and even show a much better quality videos than Youtube.
Of late, I find that Youtube is not embed-friendly, to wit, when you click on the “Play” button on any web site with Youtube video, you get a solemn message stating “This video is not available”, but the video is available when you visit the youtube page of the video! Weird, what!
Here is an attempt to put together a comprehensive list of such video sharing websites, where you can upload, share or even edit, enhance and change format. Some sites even allow free downloads of the videos.
I have checked each link individually and have listed only the working sites. And I have handpicked the following few as good and hassle-free sites.
- Guba – Very good site, fast loading, better than Youtube
- Blip.tv – Variety shows, up and coming
- Daily Motion
- Google Video
- Metacafe — You can monetize your video clippings on the site!
- Music.com — High quality music videos
- Vimeo
- Revver
- Yahoo Video
- Blastro
- Blennus
- BoFunk funny pics and videos
- Break Funny stuff
- Buzznet
- CastPost Good one for adding your media to blogs straightaway
- Clipshack
- Crackle
- Current Highly functional
- EyeSpot
- Heavy Little smutty!
- Imeem
- JibJab — Jokes, cartoons, funny stuff galore
- JumpCut
- Kewego
- Live Leak
- Lulu
- MeadiaMax Online storage and share upto 25 gig!
- MSN Video MSN SoapBox
- MySpace MyspaceTV
- My Video
- One World
- OurMedia
- PhanFare
- Peek Video Categorized and lots of media types
- PixParty
- Perfspot
- Put File
- Sharkle
- Spike
- StashSpace — Interesting site
- Street Fire Pics, videos…
- That Video Site
- Twango
- Veoh – This has also absorbed the now-defunct Stage6
- Video Code Zone
- VidiLife (more of “R” rated stuff )
- Vuze
- Vsocial A different type of sharing…
- You Are
- Zippy Videos
Here are the rest of them listed alphabetically:
As the internet is highly dynamic and the shelf life of websites being equal to that of a banana, the links may become dead as the sites conk off. If you find any change, please voice it on the comments box, so that I can edit the list accordingly.
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About Me
I am S.K!
Ok, what's the big deal, you may ask! But you may miss a good deal if you do not dwell deep into this web site, specially hand-crafted for you. But what about me, the person? Wait, I am not good at making things up. If you stumble upon a good-sounding résumé, please pass it on to me!
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