I’m loving my new Google personalized homepage. I’ve read about this new application before but it was just recently that I was able to try it. Their new Homepage is perfect for office people. It helps in organizing tasks and scheduling meetings or calendar events and it allows you to stay updated of the latest news, verse, quote or joke of the of the day at the same time. It’s easy to manipulate too. You can rearrange the items by just dragging them around as you please — thanks again to the myriad wonders of Ajax. :) I especially like the ToDo module which is an actual-size little notepad that appears like it’s pinned against my screen. Very cute. :D Plus their XML feeds reader is just great, definitely better than those I’ve tried before (My Yahoo and Bloglines). Google’s reader works hand in hand with their toolbar’s “Subscribe” icon so it’s easier to subscribe to any blog’s RSS or Atom feeds without having to look for the actual url. So now, you, you and you there, I can now quickly and easily track your blog updates. :)

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Now if you think the Internet only brings about beneficial services to people, think again.

Recently a tragic thing happened to a 17-year-old boy in China who had this absurd over-fascination with online instant messaging. For weeks he was chatting with someone who claimed she was a beautiful 19-year-old girl. But when they finally met face-to-face, the girl’s “looks” apparently didn’t meet the boy’s expectations, and she was actually 10 years older! Four days after their meeting, the boy committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree.

The moral of the story? I can’t say that chatting in IM with a stranger is totally bad.. so I guess the lesson here is: DON’T BE STUPID!! Why would you kill yourself over an online “friend” who turned out to be a scheming, ugly old woman?? There’s more to life than just staying confined in cyberworld. He should’ve just put it behind, gone out more, and tried to meet new people. Sheesh.

But then again, I don’t know the whole story, which might, quite possibly, be deeper than it seems to us, onlookers. But I still find it stupid. And yeah, I also feel bad for them. :D

Read the news article here.