Importing posts from the past...

This should be fun. ;)

Blogger Just Got Cooler

It looks like Blogger just got cooler which means I will finally have what I always wanted from Google--labels within my blog posts.

Del.icio.us is fine, but being a Google loyalist, the less I use of Yahoo, the better I feel.

There will be no new posts on Inside Orkut as I will be transferring 300 plus posts from the old blogspot to the new, but if you were looking for ways of improving Orkut you can start by reading this.

Keeping Orkut Clean (Sweeping The Mess)

Thanks to everyone who has joined the campaign to keep Orkut clean and for alerting users about forums, profiles, etc. that encourage child predators in their sick behavior as well as those who enjoy promoting violence throughout the forums.

Orkut is Google's most undervalued feature that has (in my honest opinion) the potential to bring in millions of dollars for the company--and I am not talking about via Ad Sense here (I'll cover this in a later post).

Unfortunately Orkut's biggest threat are those using it for "less desirable purposes" and this could threaten not only Google, but the millions who use it for legitimate purposes.

Without further delay, here is a partial list of some content that Google will frown upon. (Note: Titles with an "*" have been partially translated into English.)

___________________________________________
Warning: Some of these forums contain graphic images and are NOT suitable for the viewing public (let alone the sane).
___________________________________________

On the child predator front:

• Exchange of photos, lolitas and teen * (Report as bogus)


• Gayzinhos de 10-18 anos (Report as bogus)


• MSN & WebCam Gay TeeN - BRASIL (Report as bogus)


• Who wants to eat the Dannyzinha * (Report as bogus)


• I WOULD ABSORB THE MIRIM_13ANOS * (Report as bogus)


• There are several other questionable profiles, albums and forums which you can find over here.

On the terrorism front:

• Terrorists deep of yard * (Report as bogus)


• Followers of Osama Bin Laden * (Report as bogus)


• Rede Alkaida Brasil (Report as bogus)


• Al Hamas (Report as bogus)


• Although other forums were mentioned, the ones above advocate violence against others, something Google may want to check out.

There are several other communities also dedicated towards keeping Orkut clean, and I will see if we can all network together to make Orkut a fun place to surf in.

Google already has a system in place to deal with this content, so I would recommend that WE USE IT before contacting the American authorities. Let's keep Orkut clean together...and make Google millions. (=

Note: Above image created by Web 2.0.

Global Trade, Orkut Style

For many people Orkut is a place to find the next date, talk with friends, spam the world (may they be flogged stopped) or find an interesting hobby to share.

But many people do not realize that a lot of businesses use the forums not only to hire people but also to find contacts to market their goods around the world.

A prime example of this can be found in the Import-Export forum (which has become fairly active this month) where you can find:

• Anneke (originally from the Netherlands) helping businesses from Pakistan, India, etc. locate buyers and importers in her home country for their various products (which range from shoes to musical instruments to polyurethane foam).



• Sanjay and Jimmy are offering their export services, and their seems to be plenty of clients for the both of them.



• Konstantin is looking to import products to Europe (he's not picky about the type) and has already received several replies.

Much more could be sited in other forums (but I lack the time to cover them) so if you have a business with a global outreach you may want to consider getting your share of the profits by joining Orkut.

Another Orkut Clone In The Works?

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery.

Whoever said that should talk to a copyright lawyer, who would enlighten them as to why the robed black masters would frown at this activity in the courtroom.

(GetAFreeLancer.com) Kartik786: "I want an exact clone of Orkut. I would like to see demo. I want the script to come with an installer. I'll cancel this project if i'm not satisfied."

Several people have already begun bidding for this project (which ranges between $100 and $30 USD) and the offering ends in about one month.

I guess if you can't beat the competition, then pay someone who can.

Did Saudi Arabia Ban Orkut?

Yet another nation has apparently to bar access to Google's Orkut to its citizens as it appears that the forums hosted more than just women without burqa's. Although this was over a month ago, Xo Ail brings us the sad news.

Yes, Orkut is banned in Saudi Arabia. KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) has banned the Orkut Network realizing that it cant attain the possibility of producing or easing pornographic material online.

Saudi Arabia is a country where 99% of the porn sites or sites with absurd content are banned. Its stronger than china, where no proxy surfing or anything of the kinda would work.

Apparently some users have already found ways around the blocks. That's good news to hear, otherwise they would have had to settle for MuslimSpace.com, as Sharia law is enforced there.

Mandatory Google Accounts For Orkut?

Ramesh Loganathan is reporting that Orkut is making Google accounts mandatory for all new members.

Like the other day I was checking up Orkut, and now they insist that all users MUST have google logins. This made sense If targetted ads is the primary source of revenue, then better "targetting" sure adds more value.

Since I had previously upgraded my Orkut account into "a Googlie one," I some how was left out on receiving the memo. After searching Orkut's help section I came across this.

Please note that each orkut account must be upgraded to a different or new Google Account. It is not possible for multiple orkut users to upgrade to the same Google Account.

This is probably a response to Google's attempt at fighting spam on Orkut. I know Yahoo tried a similar thing with Flickr (and kinda lost) and Google may be doing this to ID would be violators and hopefully appease Brazil as they are currently suing them over criminal activity within the forums.

Update: Added blog link to Ramesh's weblog.

Update (9/21): This is mandatory. Via Orkut Help:

To continue using orkut, you will need to upgrade your orkut login to a Google Account. Please be assured that you will not lose any information in your orkut account.

This should (hopefully) cut down on spam within the scrapbooks and forums.

75,000 Dollars Worth Of Business?

If anyone (or rather any company) is looking for some extra cash within the IT industry, their is a post by ERP WAR in the Startups forum looking to contract some IT geeks professionals with his company.

Hi! I Help companies in US & Uk to get thr project done at a very low cost in Indian offshore development centres.I'm looking for an offshore development centre for J2EE Financial project.
Description.

J2EE Financial applications, supporting/enhancing current applications, developing new applications, and assisting on a data conversion project.This is a contract assignment expected to last through Mid of 2007.
Project cost estimation- around 75000$

People are already submitting their proposals/interests in the offer, but if you are more of the web designer type, then this may interest you.

Keeping Orkut Clean

(Note: I must thank Leanna and Cacau for bringing this to my attention).

---------A Short Story---------
When I was younger, (many years ago) our neighborhood started to become an ugly place to live. There was a small group of people who for reasons of their own decided to make the place another statistic for urban crime.

My neighbors decided that wouldn't do (since crime can drop the value of your house) and formed a neighborhood watch, reporting incidents to the authorities as they happened. Over time, the criminals either left (or were sent to prison) and the neighborhood became a cool place to live again.

---------Translation---------

Orkut is a great way to connect with friends, business, find a job, or even discover romance.

Unfortunately Orkut is becoming ugly, mainly because drug dealers, child predators, and even terrorists are using its features to network their activities, which is causing unnecessary friction, especially between Brazil and Google.

---------One Solution?---------

Google is already fighting some of these creeps, although they probably lack the staff to monitor the forums constantly like MySpace. One solution is for Orkut's users (that being you) to report the forum/user as bogus to Google, and encourage others to do the same.

I created a forum called Orkut Neighborhood Watch where you can report questionable activity which I'll later highlight here on this site. If the offense involves children, you can contact the CyberTipLine and they will work to hopefully rid the forums of this filth.

---------The End---------

A long wordy post (yeah I know) but hopefully we can help keep Orkut clean, as they are thinking about releasing some new features for all of us to enjoy. Peace.

Update: Google is now keeping Orkut clean. (=

Is Google Adding Gtalk Inside Orkut?

Gee Google it's about time you considered adding this to Orkut!

More from Mercury News:

(Mercury News) Mountain View Internet giant Google -- the one company we're more obsessed with here than Apple -- said it's expanding its Google Talk service to more of its own products. It will start by linking Google Talk to its Orkut social-networking site, and is considering linking the Internet phone and instant-messaging service to its online word processor and spreadsheet. Google Talk lags far behind similar offerings from Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft.

Having Google integrate Gtalk within Orkut will help knock out two items users have been asking for: an online status indicator (since the previous hack no longer works ever since Orkut updated its servers) and an Orkut chat program.

Although Scrapboy provides a nice alternative, having an official chat program will make Orkut "all the sweeter."

Update: It looks like "a chat program" may be on the drawing boards of Orkut.

Featured Artist: Pallav Mazumdar

Alas, the Drawing forum never ceases to disappoint me! Pallav has posted some wonderful drawings of his art work in his album for the world to see.

Here is a snapshot of some of the images below.



Pallav has already framed several (if not all) of these pieces of art and these are some of the best sketches that I've come across while skimming through Orkut.

I like the shadow effects of the lady's cheek bones (lower left hand corner) as that little detail adds depth to the face. He also has another great sketch of a woman (not shown above) in what appears to be a fancy Hindu dress (what do they call those things again?)

Anyways, Pallav is from India and currently holds a Bachelor's Degree and if you enjoyed his artwork as much as I have, send him a scrap and let him know.

Video Highlight: The Color Of Life

(Note: Blogger is acting weird...this may be my last post for the day)

Over in the Short Films forum, Vikram has posted a link to a short film he made entitled The Color of Life.

Review: The special effects for the intro were very well done, almost theatre like and I expected a Hollywood class movie.

The lighting of the film however is very poor in the beginning, and I think next time they may want to shoot the film with more lights. Also background noise interfered as well (sounded muffled).

Aside from technical issues, the film had a great message in it, and the acting was fairly good as well. Hopefully these guys (and/or gals) will produce more films like these, as they were good at telling a very short story.

Do you have a film on Orkut waiting to be discovered? Stop reading this site and scrap me and I may post it here.

Why Orkut Is Popular In India (Chirkut)

Many of you have probably noticed the increase of Indian users within Orkut. I was puzzled at this myself, and after finding about a Brazilian word rhyming with Orkut I tried searching for something similar within India.

At long last we have an explanation.

(Ideal Web Tools) Chirkut is non-dictionary hindi word often used in Utter Pradesh and Bihar (two states from India) to praise a person for being loser, stupid and dullard. Recently our favorite politicians have accepted this word as an integral part of performance appraisal system (Interested people can read, "So what if am a 'chirkut'?" by Samajwadi party's Amar Singh).

AjiNIMC (the author of Ideal Web Tools) provides this humorous image as a visual example.



With that mystery now solved, we can now turn our attention to what is happening inside the Orkut forums.

Scrapboy Monetizes Orkut Instant Messenger

It looks like the Scrapboy Digital Media Corporations has (finally) included ads within its chat program. The advertisements are located at the bottom of your chat screens and are not displayed in an annoying-like fashion (like some of the other popular chat programs out there which fill up half of your chatting screen).



For those of you who do not know, Scrapboy is the unofficial instant messenger for Orkut. Scrapboy basically uses your Orkut scrap book as an instant messenger service, without removing your original scraps on the server (something similar programs do).

Note: I am hearing rumors that Google may be launching an Orkut chat program of their own, as it's already on the wish list.

Google Joins Coalition Against Child Pornography

That certainly is good news to hear! Perhaps that means we will be seeing less of these sickos inside Orkut, although Google will have to do something about minors using the forums.

More from the Google Blog.

Previously, I've [Nicole Wong, Associate General Counsel] shared with you Google's commitment to protecting children online. As part of these efforts, we've joined two recently-formed industry initiatives to combat child pornography and child exploitation on the Internet. No group can keep the Internet safe by itself. We're excited about the promise of collaborating with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and other companies to advance this important mission.

Great job Google! Now what about those drug dealers and terrorists using the forums?

Looking For A Job?

One of the cool things about Orkut is that you can use its various features to not only find new hobbies, products, lovers (the latter being very rare) but also new employment as well.

I decided to dip my head in the Jobs forum, and to my horror I discovered spammers were already targeting this community.

In order to help out users honestly seeking a job or career, here are some offers posted in the forum.

• .Net professional: We are looking for Asp,VB, .Net professionals with at least 2 years of experience. [...] Candidate would be sent to london for 1 month and will work with Top IT company project
  
  6 positions open, more details inside Orkut.


• Finance professional: We are looking for Finance professionals with at least 1 year of experience. [...] Willingness to relocate to NCR (note: where is NCR?)
  
  10 positions open, more details inside Orkut.


• Software Engineer: Candidate will be a part of very dynamic and highly skilled team. 3-5 yrs of experience required.
  Telecom Experience preferred but not required.
  
  Location: Chatsworth, CA
  
  More details inside Orkut. (same link as the one below)


• Business Analyst: 4 to 6 yeers of experience as Business Analyst. Financial, Banking experience preferred.
  .NET Technologies and Testing background is required.
  
  Location: Simi Valley, CA
  
  More details inside Orkut. (same link as the one above)


• Java job: 4-6 years of IT industry experiences as programmer or analyst. Good communication skills.
  
  Location: Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune [India]
  
  More details inside Orkut.


• .Net developer: Local company sees a .Net Developer for a long term contract in Memphis, TN USA. Position requires 3+ years experience with VB.Net, ASP.Net, and MS SQL Server. Must be a good team player.
  
  More details inside Orkut.


• Senior System Analyst: Local company seeks a Senior Systems Analyst / Internal Business Consultant for a permanent position in Memphis, TN USA.
  
  Position requires 3-5 yrs MRP/ERP experience; 2-3 years experience as a Programmer/Analyst; project management experience; or any combination of education and experience that provides the skills and abilities to perform the job.
  
  QAD MFG/PRO experience, supply chain experience, Progress 4GL experience, Unix, or Lean/Six Sigma experience are all pluses.
  
  More details inside Orkut.


• If you can not find anything above, there are almost a dozen other positions listed over here.

I'd like to thank Vissu, Poorni, Want a *USA JOB* and the various anonymous profiles for helping to contribute towards the economy by posting offerings on Orkut. Many of these were today, so if you are looking for a job in those fields (and are willing to relocate for them) then contact the people on the forums for more info.

Note: If you need an Orkut Invite, click here.

Orkut Word Verification Down?

Update: It's working again. Thanks Google!

Apparently Google's word verification for Orkut is not working today. If you are posting to a forum / scrapbook, you may see this screen:



The text says:

To protect our users' safety and privacy, we now require users to pass a word verification when posting content with a link.

enter the text as it is shown in the box below:

The picture keeps erroring out in Firefox and IE. Is anyone else receiving this as well?

Featured Artist: Aamruta Deshmukh

Earlier this month, Aamruta requested in the Drawing forum for feedback regarding her art work (since she is a beginner). After viewing some of her sketches, I am wondering if she really is a beginner at this as she seems really talented at drawing faces (something I have yet to master myself).

Here is a sample of four of her drawings below in her album.



I like the way Aamruta portrays the moods of the individuals, as you can see the guy in the top right corner looks depressed, while the girl at the bottom looks like she can't make up her mind on which item to buy (so I am reading a little too much into the images).

She seems pretty good with shading, although it would be nice to see some of these images in color. (I wonder if she has drawn any?)

She has uploaded ten images thus far, and if you enjoyed what you saw feel free to let her know within her scrapbook.

Update: I forgot to mention this related topic. Apparently in the Oil Painters forum, there is some discussion whether art is "a creation or a talent." What do you think?

Another Brain Puzzle

Over in the Puzzles forum, DM lists a brain teaser which is simple enough (at least for my brain) to grasp yet challenging enough to be fun.

WHO IS ON THE RIGHT? A PUZZLE!

Four married couples were sitting around a circular table.
No man was sitting next to his wife or another man.
Mr Coster was not sitting next to Mrs Black.
Mr Black was not sitting next to Mrs Dell.
Moving clockwise around the table, the women were seated in the same order of their names as the men.
Mrs Archer was sitting on the right of Mr Black.

Who was sitting on the right of Mrs. Coster?

courtesy:world puzzles

For those too lazy (or lack the time) to solve this on their own, you can find the answer over here.

Brazil May Close Google Office Because Of Orkut

The government of Brazil is really getting upset at Google. Orkut, a social networking service created by Google (and "the MySpace" of the region) is attracting various bad elements within the forums, and Google is apparently being uncooperative with Brazilian authorities.

(People's Daily Online) Brazil's Federal Prosecution Service on Monday announced that it would move to close the operation of U.S.-based web group Google in the country.

According to the public entity, Google has not followed court orders, determining the company to cooperate with the investigation on crimes concerning its social-networking service Orkut since June. Google has denied the charges.

Orkut has become a favorite among Brazilians, especially youngsters. However, the Federal Court believes that there are communities and personal profiles on Orkut, who exchange information on drugs and even traffic them.

It is no secret that drug dealers are using Orkut to solicit, communicate and traffic illegal drugs as their are certain forums dedicated towards this type of activity.

Previously the Brazilian government was upset about child predators using the Orkut service, although Google seems to have cooperated somewhat with the authorities in that arena.

Google's main concern seems to be user privacy, although their actions are being perceived by Brazil's government as protecting those who violate their countries laws.

More Googler's Spotted On Orkut?

Many of you may have remembered the various Google employee's featured on Phillip's Google Blogoscoped weblog.

Apparently Jarod Lam (a Googler himself) has started has started a forum for Google employee's, allowing fans to connect with developers of their favorite Google products.



I did a quick search and found some interesting info about which Googler's work on certain products / features.

• Orkut: Orkut (the founder) and Ellen Spertus


• Gmail: Michael McNally, Dan Fingal and Kai Huang


• Picasa: Andre Philippi (note: I see the connection)


• Google Ad Sense: Hunter Walk and Greg Blevins


• Google Ad Words: Riki Nakasuji, Ann Hill, Julia Burg, Jennifer Nghiem, Sushmita Thakur, Joe Carroll, Thomas Prager, Dan O'Connell, Dhanya Murali, and Miriam Wynn (as well as the temps Maria Reynoso and Annie Kellough)


• Google Search: Leo Martin


• Google Earth: Bruno Bowden (it says Keyhole, but that was it's former name)


• Google Analytics: (unsure) Aubrey Sabala


• Froogle: Roshan Vyas

Unfortunately you have to be a Google employee in order to join (which they probably verify over at the Googleplex) so unless you have some ambitions on getting hired by Google, you can only view this forum from afar.

Customizing Templates? Yeah!

Heh! I recently found Out that I could customize my template's HTML!!!!

I LOVE BLOGGER! Even more than Word Press. :)

Update: Was a blogger glitch. Sigh...

Brazil Threatening To Sue Google Over Orkut?

With the government of Brazil determined to reign in child predators where ever they may hide, Google may be in for the legal fight of its Brazilian life.

Apparently they are not happy with the way Google has been providing information on potential suspects, and are seriously considering taking the search engine giant to court.

(People's Daily Online) Brazil's Federal Prosecution Service said Tuesday that it will sue Google Inc. this week, because the company has refused to provide information about users of its social-networking service Orkut, as determined by decisions of a local court. [...]

Federal Prosecution Service officials said Google will be subject to paying fines and even be expelled from Brazil, if it continues to disregard the court's decisions.

According to the People's Daily, Orkut has already provided information regarding eight investigations, although the government seems to be furious over the other 60 Google is keeping secret.

Despite being illegal for them to use, many minors have already created profiles on Orkut, which is attracting these child predators in the first place.

Although a ban by Brazil may not affect Orkut (aside from membership activity), it would be a major financial setback for Joga.com (a partnership between NikeFootball.com and Google) as the site was designed for the Brazilian soccer fans (Joga Bonito means "Play Beautifully" in Portuguese).

Fundraising For Hezbollah? (Or Rather Hizbollah)

It looks like networking works for anyone--even Hezbollah (or is it Hizbollah?).

Over in the Hizbollah forum, one of the members asks where he can donate Khums towards Hizbollah (and if you do not know what Khums are, simply Google it or visit Wikipedia for an explanation).

Here is a screen shot below of the request:



...and here is another snap shot showing the assist:



Although not a good thing to discover, I'm not too surprised to see these types of activities happening on Orkut. After all, if drug dealers are using the forums, what prevents terrorists from doing the same?

Related:

• We don't want Al-Qaeda's money


• Lebanon war debate--Who's at fault?

Under Aged Orkut Users?

Orkut is a great site where users can network for business, romance, activities or hobbies--as long as users are 18 years or older.

That restriction apparently is not stopping thousands of youth for signing up onto the forums, as you can see from a quick search below.



Upon reading Google's terms of service, one discovers that Orkut was never intended for the youth.

(Terms of Service) eligibility and registration

You must be 18 years or older to use the orkut.com service. By registering for the orkut.com service, you represent and warrant that you are 18 or older and that you have the capacity to understand, agree to and comply with these Terms of Service.

The humorous part is that despite illegally using Orkut, many of the youth seem to be complying with the second part of the terms of service.

In addition, you must provide true, accurate and complete registration information to be an orkut.com member [...]

Although to my knowledge Orkut rejects users from registering who are under 18, it ironically allows users to adjust their age below 18 which makes them easy targets for child predators.

Google might be wise to either remove the age reduction below 18 or simply create an Orkut for kid's--otherwise they may find themselves in hot water again.

India Users Increasing On Orkut?

Apparently it is not only the Brazilians who are crazy about Orkut. I have noticed a large number of Indians signing up with the forums, and at the rate that they are going they may soon surpass their American friends.

Here is a snapshot I took of the Orkut census on July 26^th of this year.



And here is one that I took today.



When Google first launched Orkut, they were perplexed as why it attracted so many Brazilians (although it may have something to do with a popular yogurt named Yakut).

For some strange reason, Orkut is attracting the Indian population in large numbers, enough for some businesses to consider blocking access to the forums, and some comparing Orkut to a drug.

To my knowledge their is no Orkut sounding food / service / product that would make the forum's popular, but with a country boasting 16 national languages, I would not be surprised if one of them had a word that rhymed with Orkut.

Beta Version...

Testing out the specs of a future Inside Orkut.

So Which Orkut Hacks Still Work?

With the recent changes by the Google team, many of you may have noticed that several Firefox or GreaseMonkey hacks (as well as some Orkut software) are no longer working.

Several of you have been emailing me / scraping me with problems related to these hacks in general. Although I am not an expert on these hacks, here is a partial list of hacks that no longer work within Orkut.

• On-Off: This GreaseMonkey hack (also known as the Orkut Online Status Indicator) is no longer working inside Orkut.
  
  The good news is that Google may be working on something similar (along with Orkut chat). The bad news is this may take awhile since the Orkut team is probably focused on improving Joga and testing out Ad Sense within Orkut.



• Orkut Scrapper 1.0: This Orkut hack was destined (in my honest opinion) to become the number one Orkut hack, overthrowing Orkut Cute from the top position (not an easy program to defeat).
  
  Unfortunately Google's recent changes have disabled this hack, although Binny (the creator) is promising a launch of Orkut Scrapper 2.0 fairly soon.



• Other GreaseMonkey Hacks: Other hacks not working are Album Zoom, Find Messages, and Unlimited Yes | No Friends. A more detailed list can be found over at Orkut.ya.st.

This is just a partial listing, and if any of these hacks come back to life, I'll post them here on this site.

If You Can't Beat Orkut, Just Copy It?

This sure is interesting. It seems that someone is seeking to hire a developer to "clone Orkut" and all of its features (with a few changes of course). Talk about opening yourself to a future lawsuit.

From Get A Freelancer.com

We are seeking developers to develop a clone of orkut.com with all it features, we will suggest minor modifications. This will be a from scratch project including graphic design. Please understand that we are looking for a complete project not simply graphic design.

While graphic design is very important, making sure the site functions properly is crucial to it's potential success. If you think you have the tools to get the job done, let us know. I will need hosting (optional-I can arrange with other party for hosting). Need to get everything top to bottom.

This offer is being made available via HifiGroups (who are they?) from the UK, and they are willing to pay up to $1500. The bid closes in five days (on August 15^th) although hiring a lawyer may cost more than that.

A New Tool For Orkut Citizens

(Hat Tip: Welcome to Devils Workshop)

There is another great website for those of you who either:

• lack a beautiful profile



• lack the ability to create "text art"



• lack the ability to customize your name or



• All of the above

If any of these apply to you, then Orkutando.net (and Orkutando.net/eng for those of us who speak english) is the site for you. This tool can be quite useful when you have to scrap a friend.

However make sure that you keep your message short as Orkut has length restrictions on how long your message can be.

They also have some nice profile pics, although you may not want to choose them unless you can figure out a way to remove the "mini link ad" within the image.

Note: Adding this to the sidebar underneath Orkut User Tools Orkut Related.

Update: Orkutando was more of a helpful site for Orkut rather than a hack.

Featured Artist: Shone

In the Drawing forum, Shone has sketched some excellent pieces in his album. One way you can tell a good artists is how he draws people's eyes.

What I love about these images (shown below) is the fact that you can almost see a reflection of light in these people's eyes, matching what one would see in reality when you gaze upon someone's face.

Note: Original images were not uploaded in order to respect copyright laws

Shone is from India who describes himself as "a funloving easygoing guy" who loves food, music, movies and drawing. He has even more images over on his weblog, although I think he should consider signing up for Picasa Web Albums as Orkut limits users to 12 photo's.

More Orkut Censorship

I just came across these weblogs detailing more censorship of Orkut happening. The only difference this time is instead of being censored by the government, (confirmed by another blogger) Orkut now seems to be beginning to be censored at work. Asmyaham has the details:

Apparently, with the herd of freshers actively using Orkut at work, a decision to block the same was passed by SA, and this made the site inaccessible to 600 odd star employees, thus bringing to a standstill, the breadwinning occupation of these individuals who contributed to the top-lines of the organisation by constant networking through the website, and hence made hunting for prospective customers that much more easier.

Asmyaham later on chats with his boss "SA" and apparently worked out a deal to bring Orkut back by baby sitting his kids (is he serious?).

Perhaps Orkut is becoming the opium of the Internet masses. At least in India it is.

Daily India Reports Orkut As A Drug

I came across this post from the Daily India which headlined Orkut as "...the opium of the Internet masses." I've heard this phrase before, but did not understand it until now.

(Daily India) Take the case of science undergraduate Rajeev Krishnan. He says his addiction to Orkut has taken a 'serious toll' on his leisure time.

So much has Orkut seeped into Krishnan's system that he spends more than three hours a day with the community - at the cost of his other interests like singing, watching movies and reading. [...]

'I tend to forget to eat, sleep and perform most of my daily chores after I log on to Orkut. I seriously feel powerless before Orkut,' Krishnan told IANS.

'Ever since I joined Orkut last month I have spent hundreds of rupees on browsing. Its almost like Orkut is the drug and I am the addict,' he added.

Wow...I wonder if there is a 12 step program available?

New Orkut Hack (Scrapbook Flooder)

Rahul over at Welcome to Devil's Workshop has created an Orkut hack for spammers users. Its sole purpose is to flood someone's scrap book (which may make Google unhappy) with whatever silly message you desire.

Of course this probably will not work if someone inserts a link within Orkut (as they have activated the word verification within scrapbooks) but I decided to download and test this firefox extension within my own scrapbook.

------------The Test------------

After several tests, I happily quickly discovered that Google's defenses were able to overcome Scrapbook Flooder, sending the infamous "donut error" after two scraps. (score one for the Google Team)

So much for that hack.

Note: I've noticed that many Orkut hacks, firefox extensions, etc. have stopped working recently. I'll try to document which ones work (and which ones don't) as well as contact the original creators about them.

Making Money Off Your Orkut Profile?

Fayis (via the Don't Worry, Be Happy forum) has spotted a user creating a "false" Orkut profile that looks almost like her original one--minus the Google Ads of course.



The site link is Orkvt.tk although you can find it originally hosted at Nina4u.50webs.com. Of all of the many copy cats I've seen, this by far is the most ingenious, although this one is not evil like the Orkut clone.

You can find Nina's real profile over here, although if I were her I would drop the fake Google search as the search engine king gets pretty angry when people do that.

Prove Thy Faith?

One thing I love about Orkut is that it brings people of differing philosophies, perspectives and faith together, without the physical violence (probably because everyone is in cyberspace).

Abdullah alerted me to a forum he manages called Christianity v/s Islam debate where Muslims and Christians can debate the merits of Muhammad, Jesus, the Koran and Bible, so long as the talk is non-violent.

Abdullah has posted what he sees as errors in the Koran (or is it Quran?) dealing with the moon and stars, although Kashif has posted counter attacks and is taunting Abdullah to defend his bible.

Meanwhile, a young forum called Comparative Religion seeks to bring people of differing faiths together through debate, and Abdullah seems to be fairly active in this community as well, refuting criticism as he goes.

There are more forums like these around Orkut, but what I think both of these lack is a clear dialogue between opposing views.

Communities like Christian Muslim Dialogue and Muslim Christian Friendship foster such a discussion, and I personally have gotten more about what Islam, Baha'i, etc. were all about through forums like these than from boring text books.

Note: An example of this is when I asked a question regarding the Koran.

Resistance...Produces Growth

Aside from life, I have been busy putting out mini web fires that I recently became aware of, and trying to take advantage of future opportunities/warnings that I see on the horizon.

1. First, I discovered today that the email subscription service Yutter got shafted by their server host SteadFast Networks, which meant every post since July 27^th may have not reached many people's inboxes.
   
   I've switched over to Sqeet.com for now, which should allow users to customize how frequent they receive updates to this weblog. (a good thing).



2. Second, I discovered that Congress may pass a bill that would ban all types of social networking sites at public arenas (not a good idea) although some libraries may fight back.
   
   I've registered the site InsideOrkut.com (which redirects back here) and may go to professional hosting to (hopefully) avoid this as banning blogs seems to be a pattern around the world.



3. Last, I discovered a cool tool by Google called Google Related Links which will display relevant content (hopefully related to Orkut) on this site.
   
   I am also going to go through the forums listed below and update the list as some of them have been either flooded with spam, hi-jacked (no, I am not joking here) or have become abandoned. I am also adding some forums, and if you want yours added to the right sidebar, let me know by scraping me.
   
   I'll be working on these updates tonight (while I have time) before Google begins to operate on Blogger.

There is more to discuss, but I don't want to bore my readers. I'll update this post when the updates are complete.

Update (12:48 AM): I've screened all of the forums on the sidebar and finished installing the Google Related Links on the side as well. I should be back up to full speed later on today (after I get some sleep and finish tomorrow's chores/work/etc.)

Who's The Terrorist?

Aside from dating, debate about terrorism seems to be the highlight of the day (or rather the week).

Ania from the Human Rights Watch forum has posted a video link with George Galloway showing adamant support for Hezbollah. Geoffrey does not seem too impressed with Galloway, and replies with:

Ah yes, George Galloway, terrorist sympathizer that was tossed out of his own party, Al Jazeera regular, Oil for Food scandal participant. I don't have to even watch that to guess what it shows.

If you want to form an honest opinion, why not start choosing independent sources, rather than forming an opinion then going to look for trash that agrees with it?

This of course kicks off a debate with Ania pointing out how the accusations against Galloway were defeated in court (it was a congressional committee, but he still defeated them) with more fun raging on pages two and four.

Over in the American Politics forum, James posts this image (shown below) which leads to much debate over who is at fault in the Lebanon war.



Here are some opinions from both sides of the conflict. From the pro Hezbollah side:

(Michael on page two) What Hezbollah has delivered, as a matter of historical fact, is the resistance of Israeli occupation of Lebanon, from 1982-2000. That resistance had several facets, not the least of which is providing a counterbalance to Israeli-backed Christian militias, such as the SLA which operated in South Lebanon, and was quite indiscriminate in brutalitizing the native Shia population there. So Hezbollah has street cred when it comes to defending actual Lebanese.

And from the pro Israeli side:

(Len on page four) Hezbollah did not "drive Israel out" in 2000. You'll find that the UN, US and the Knesset got Israel out. Hezbollah were not that powerful and still aren't. Annoying? Definiately. No matter how many rockets Hezbollah fires into Israel, they won't "drive them out".

The UN resolution that led Israel out also agreed that Hezbollah should be disarmed by the Lebanese gov't. Obviously this was not going to be easy given the Syrian manipulation of the Lebanese gov't, and Israel might have waited for the Lebanese gov't as of the end of last year to do something.

More debate continues on pages five, six and seven with Donald, Tejas, Wahab and Hamza jumping into the debate.

Related:

• Leeron (in Zionist Jews) discusses Hezbollah's goal of genocide.


• A.SIPRA in the Hezbollah forum asks whether it is fair to kill civilians (since Islam forbids this).


• Mirel (in the Conflict in Israel forum) declares that most terrorists are Muslim, something Raihaan and Xeni both dismiss as false.

Video Highlights: Buddha Never Smiled

Rejeeb (over in the Short films forum) has just informed the Orkut world of their launch of a 30 minute movie entitled "Buddha Never Smiled."

Here is the preview video with its description below.

(Brief Summary) Its the story of soldiers who is guarding your country and my country... Who still doesent know what he is guarding for. And why. And he is there not to fight for his country, but for his own life.

Note: You may have heard of the phrase "Buddha smiled" which is in reference to when India became a nuclear power.

Looks pretty good. Hopefully Rejeeb will provide more details when the film launches.

PS: Don't forget to visit their site at BuddhaNeverSmiled.com

So, Are You Unemployed?

A new forum by Adith has appeared within Orkut. Simply called We-The unemployed, this forum's serves its members by (seemingly) laughing at their current status in life.

(Description) We r the ones who politicians say will get jobs ASAP...For cool people like us, jobs are sooooo uncool and boring...we are the ones who have so much time at our disposal that orkuting has become our profession...Welcome 2 WE-The Unemployed

Adith has already started a forum listing the benefits of being unemployed, while Tannu has started a thread listing everyone's previous area of expertise.

Note: I wonder if any of them have check out the Jobs forum, as there are several openings listed in the community.

What's The Fuss In Europe?

The Europe forum seems busy today, with many people posting and discussing their opinions about the middle east as well as what is happening in Europe.

Lola has sparked an interesting conversation regarding the war in Lebanon (which she is upset about) with people debating for or against Israel regarding the war.

Meanwhile Parikshit from India is angry about the apparent rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, a statement that some members took offense at.

Last but not least, it appears as if Poland is picking up some steam with news that the EU rebuffed them over the death penalty. Sigitas is arguing in defense of the punishment, although I think everyone else is arguing against it (although Mila does present some alternatives for the measure).

Revamped Site

Some of you may have noticed the new "Orkutish" look of this weblog.

I decided to revamp this site again for two reasons.

• Despite the disclaimers, people were mistaking it for an official Google site.
• I got bored with the look and decided to mimic Google's deep blue forums.

I think I was able to master most of the coding, although Ad sense is acting up a bit (Google should resolve this pretty soon--or else).

Note: Now that I've documented the many, many changes within Orkut, I can now talk about what I love most--what goes on inside the deep blue forums.

Google Revamps Orkut Community Arena

It seems as if the boys and girls at Google world were a little busy designing a new layout for the Community arena within Orkut. The layout looks smoother and more professional, and both Orkut and Joga users will notice this change.

Users can not only see all of the forums they are members of, but also separate whether or not they want to simply view their Joga forums...



...or just scroll through their Orkut communities.



Users can also see which communities they own...



...as well as which ones they are still awaiting membership for.



Google also has also moved the category list for forums to the side rather than the bottom of the user screen.

The Google team seems to be making some serious updates within Orkut, probably in order to compete against rivals such as MySpace (which is probably the reason they are testing Google Ads within Orkut).

Hopefully more of these changes will attract other nationals towards Orkut, (especially Americans) as Brazil has dominated the forums for ages.

Hire A Hacker? (Scrap Editor In Flash)

Over on the GetAFreelancer.com site, Ersan has posted a bid of up to $100 for someone to develop a scrap editor in flash.

I need a SCRAP EDITOR FOR ORKUT. This editor must be development in FLASH 8.0 (ActionScript 2.0).

Functions:
- Format Text (bold, italic, underline)
- Emoticons - :8 :( :x :) ;) :D :o :P /)
- Font Color - (aqua blue fuchsia gold gray green lime maroon navy olive orange pink purple red silver teal violet yellow)
- Links

This editor must show the text formated like a WYSIWYG HTML. All texts format must be update in a input hidden html with orkut format code (it likes a bbcode format).

The bid seems to be already closed as Web Developer 007 has placed a $100 bid for the project.

So far I do not see any recent activity regarding this, but I will update this post if (or rather when) this feature launches.

Word Verification For Scraping?

With scrap spam increasing throughout the forums annoying many users it seems that Google has implemented a word verification system on users whenever they try to post a link to a friend's scrapbook.



Orkut has in the past weeks been hit with a virus attack that has crippled some users PC's. Although Google has been fighting this by suppressing the link, users are still being annoyed with useless scraps advertising everything from porn to internet scams.

This seems to have cut down on much of the spam (especially in my scrapbook) and will hopefully restore the scrapbook for what it was originally intended for--a tool to communicate with those you care about (as well as those you don't).