I've been reading a fascinating post on the Micro Persuasion blog about using Gmail to set up your own "personal nerve center". Reading this makes me realise the ever-expanding uses for Gmail and other Google applications.

I particularly like the Twitter one where you can get BBC and CNN headlines sent directly to your Google Talk application which is embedded inside Gmail. I am a big news junkie and I have been subscribed to CNN's Breaking News email service for many years now. But if this Twitter / Google Talk thing really starts working without any hitches, I may consider ditching the email service. The cool part is that when a news headline arrives in your Google Talk app, Gmail automatically files it away in your Gmail archive where it can be found and retrieved later.

The other interesting part of the post is having your del.icio.us links and Google Reader "shared links" sent to your email every day for filing. Since I am a big user of both services, this will prove quite useful.

The post has also got me considering the possibility of applying for Google Apps. The lure for me would be the 10GB of email space. But at $50 a year, I think I would probably wait until I see how fast I am going to use up the free 2GB that Gmail already gives users. After 3 years and 5500 emails, I am only at 13% of the storage space.

I am personally no fan of British Airways and the latest fuss to hit the airline has not done anything to improve their image in my eyes.

One of their employees, who worked at a BA check-in desk was forced to take unpaid leave because she refused to cover up her Christian crucifix which she was wearing around her neck.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6052608.stm

BA policy is apparently that such items CAN be worn but they must be concealed underneath the uniform. This lady in question refused to cover it up and she was therefore sent home.

Now she plans to sue British Airways for religious discrimination. BA meanwhile seems to be unapologetic which has really pissed me off.

I am not religious at all but I do have the highest respect for those with religious beliefs and who live by those beliefs. It is this kind of multi-religious society that makes us what we are and BA has no right to bully this woman into doing the company's bidding.

BA's public reputation has always been a little shaky in the past decade or so, since their famous clash with Sir Richard Branson's airline, Virgin Atlantic. Branson sued BA for libel in the early 1990's and won. During the libel hearing, it was discovered that BA had mounted a dirty tricks campaign against Virgin, smearing Virgin's reputation, phoning up Virgin customers posing as Virgin staff and getting the customers to transfer their flights to BA and so on. The whole saga is detailed in length in Branson's autobiography "Losing my Virginity" (well worth a read).

And now this. What's next I wonder? As for me, I'll be continuing to fly with Lufthansa and Ryanair. It's cheaper plus you don't get stabbed in the back when you enter the plane.