New Orkut Domains For India And Brazil (And England Too?)

(Hat Tip: Rahul from Devils Workshop)

While there has been no official announcement regarding this, it looks like Google has rolled out international versions of Orkut for Brazilians and Indians on Orkut.

Users from India can visit www.orkut.co.in
while those in Brazil can login over at www.orkut.com.br.

This comes to no surprise as Brazil and India make up Orkut's largest user base--at least according to the Orkut demographics:



Google has also registered Orkut domains for the following countries (although these all redirect towards Orkut.com):

• England: www.orkut.co.uk


• Australia: www.orkut.com.au


• Canada: www.orkut.ca


• Germany: www.orkut.de


• Portugal: www.orkut.pt


• Israel: www.orkut.co.il


• New Zealand: www.orkut.co.nz


• And probably many more!

Note: Ironically, it looks as if Google was not quick enough to register the Pakistani domain (www.orkut.pk), although it looks as if one user is using it as a proxy to bypass filters and allow people to log into Orkut (not to mention several other Google products).

I wonder if Google is willing to buy that domain from them? ;-)

Must Have: Threaded Orkut Scraps

One of the reasons I love Gmail so much (note: yes, this is related to Orkut, so bear with me) is that Google groups together all of those messages sent back and forth between your friends (or businesses) into conversations, which saves you a lot of time when you are trying to figure out what you last said (or rather wrote) in Gmail.



While I do enjoy the overall layout of Orkut scrapbook, one thing I wish the Google team would consider is giving users the ability to group together related scraps, as it would make it much easier to communicate between friends (especially if you are receiving a ton of scraps).



Even though Google is probably busy with other projects (such as reinserting ads inside Orkut, not to mention receiving feedback regarding their Orkut Apps (which you can view if you are a citizen of Estonia), it would be great if they added this feature alongside of the million other things they are planning for the site.

Adsense For Orkut Forum Owners? Good Idea, Bad Idea?

So with the first month of 2008 just about over, and Google eagerly taking suggestions for Orkut, I was wondering whether or not it might be a good idea for Google to give community owners the option to insert Google Adsense (or any ads of their choice) on forums that they manage.

While this idea probably has been discussed before (back in the day when Orkut had ads before they removed them after users found them to be annoying) it might make sense as an option for Google, especially since the social networking wars are starting to heat up.

Since Google already shares ad revenue with YouTube users (not to mention users of Blogger, Google Pages, and the future Google Knol), why not do the same thing for forum owners?

I think the only reason Google may hesitate in doing this would be because of spammers (who have a habit of ruining everything), although they could set the bar very high by allowing forums with 10,000 plus members and heavy traffic to opt in (sort of like what YouTube did).

So what do you guys (and gals) think? Good idea, or bad idea?

Calling All Orkut Bloggers! (And Webmasters)

Lately I've been receiving a lot more emails, scraps and more emails of people asking about link exchanges.

In order to make it easier to list the various sites, I am asking anyone who has a blog or website focusing on Orkut to either email me or comment below listing the link to their site, as well as a brief explanation of what it is.

Example sites: Orkut Style, Orkut Proxy Tricks, and Orkut Apps.

Note: I am asking for sites/blogs that focus primarily on Orkut, not general tech sites. If you however do blog about Orkut on a tech site, and you want to be listed, simply post a link to your site with a category/label about Orkut.

Example: Devils Workshop posts heavily about Orkut, but he also posts about other tech items as well.

Instead of linking to him directly, I linking to his posts regarding Orkut instead.

http://www.devilsworkshop.org/category/orkut/

If you have scraped me regarding links, please email me again as Gmail is much easier to organize and search, which is mainly due to the colorful labels they just added to their platform.

Can Hyperlinks And Snap.com Make Orkut Cleaner And Safer?

A long, long time ago in a place much, much bluer than it is today, Google allowed users to hyperlink text within any orkut forum.

Unfortunately, due to the massive spam wars, Google disabled hyperlinked text, only to make it up to everyone by automatically linking to any web address pasted in fully.

While seeing the entire web address can help users determine whether or not the link is safe, it has also made posting information to articles outside of orkut look extremely tacky, making orkut less beautiful.

One way Google could bring back beauty as well as maintain security to the orkut universe is by integrating Snap.com (or Snap Shots) within their forums and scrapbooks.

Note: For those of you who don't know, Snap Shots allow users to preview a site before visiting it by providing a screen shot (in a "bubble") that activates once a users scrolls over a link.

I have added it to this site, after first hearing about it over on TechCrunch a long ways back.

This would give users a heads up on whether the site is safe for work or even inform them if the link will take them to a page off site.

Orkut could customize the code to place a bubble around non-Google properties, which would help cut down on users clicking on fake orkut sites stealing Google accounts through phishing.

Google is already using snap shots on one of their sites, and installing it within orkut along with hyperlinks would probably make reading scrapbooks (as well as forums) much more enjoyable.

Orkut: Indian Users Can Sport Diwali Background Theme

(Hat Tip: Rupesh Mandal of FunduBytes)

It looks as if Google is allowing Indian users to spice up their Orkut homepage by adding a Diwali theme to the background.

The feature is only available (and viewable) to Indian users to my knowledge, and Rupesh was kind enough to email me a snap shot on what it looks like on his profile.



In order to activate this, users have to click on the Happy Diwali link near their user name.

Despite my attempts at switching countries temporarily to India, the app refused to display for me.

Either way, I am glad Google is doing this for places like India, and it would be really cool if they did something similar for users living in Brazil, Pakistan and the US (hint, hint).

Orkutsphere Chatter (What Do You See?)

Note: Credit has to go to Danny Piccirillo for inspiring this idea on Inside Orkut. Be sure to check out his forum, Suicide, Self-harm, Depression which has been added to the Forums of Note section.

One item that I really enjoy about Orkut is the fact that you can find many interesting conversations, debates, artwork, video's, etc. to entertain you while catching up with friends and strangers from around the world.

Unfortunately, there is not enough time in the day to write up a post on all the fun things I find and (more often) items that friends email me. So instead of trying to highlight 50 random forum conversations (as that would take up way too much time), I decided to simply link to them above.

For those of you visiting this site, you may have noticed the Orkutsphere Chatter box above the post section. Here you can find interesting conversations that either friends email me about or I stumble upon while surfing Orkut.

So if any of you find something interesting in Orkut (or want to show off a cool community) let me know by either sending me a scrap or emailing me.

In case you missed the previous five highlights, here's a recap:

• President Bush: Defender of Muslims? Heh.


• All silent on the (orkut) Jewish front?


• Kiran's Album: It's all in the eyes


• How To: Painting oil paintings on wood


• Suggestion: Add Video/Audio profiles to Orkut

Note: And don't forget to check out the latest post from the Official Orkut blog!

Who Are These Faces On Orkut's Homepage?

I have just recently noticed that Google changed the homepage image. The previous included some Googlers, although I wonder if these are random individuals fairly active on Orkut or mysterious Googlers we have yet to encounter.



Any guesses?

If You Were An Orkut Engineer For A Day...

(Warning: Another very long post, but there is a cool video at the end which every human, geek and Googler should enjoy)

Thanks to Death Eater I was able to partake of an Orkut survey (not to be confused with the user feedback survey) asking users to rate Orkut overall, suggest new features, rate Orkut against competitors (MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) and talk about what you enjoyed most about using Orkut.

Although I listed a bunch of features where Google could improve on (as well as highlighting some of their major strengths) I was wondering what three major features would I add to Orkut (aside from RSS feeds and Picasa Albums) if I was a Google engineer for a day?

_____________________________________________

Google Calendar: After my palm died (which is another story for another time) I suddenly found my life to be slightly chaotic without a way to quickly organize those ever important details (like meetings, reminders, etc.).

Although my cell phone has been keeping me on time (and on task) I've been slowly transferring my schedule onto Google Calendar which allows my friends, family and manager see how open (or cluttered) my time is throughout the week.

I think adding Google Calendar would be very helpful, especially for businesses using Orkut to network each other, not to mention aiding employees and employers scheduling job interviews.

Note: With Google Calendar allowing users to embed this into web pages via html or RSS, this should not be too difficult.

_____________________________________________

Adding Personal Blog: Although having a scrapbook is nice, I think it would be really cool if Orkut enabled users to add their personal blog to their homepage.

Now I am not talking about the type of blog that a user might find in Orkut's cousin Joga, but rather allowing users to add a blog outside of Orkut via site feed and have the top five posts show up on their profile.

Of course if users do not have a blog site Orkut could give them the Joga default, although with such cool blogging tools like Wordpress, Vox and Blogger (of course!), users may prefer to use a blog tool on the outside rather than in house.

_____________________________________________

Allow non-Google Videos: One thing I like about the new video playlist is that it enables me to add my favorite videos from Google Video (which I could not do before) and YouTube (which required a separate login account, which I found to be annoying).

Although this saved me much grief in finally collecting all of my favorite videos in one spot, I ran into a major problem: not all of my favorite videos were located on any of Google's video sites.

A perfect example of this is this video which I highlighted on my personal blog as a "must have" computer (which I bet every Googler would love to run at their desk).





I think if Google enabled users to add videos from a host of different sites on Orkut (starting with those that we can already embed with our Google Reader).

_____________________________________________

Well, those are my three top features I would add to Orkut. I was wondering, what three features would you add or wish Google included to make your Orkut life easier?

Raging Against The Power Companies?

Although I have my sympathies for the people affected, I am not too sure on what they can do to resolve this unfortunate situation.

This made headlines awhile back, but I thought it was interesting enough to post here.

(Hindustan Times) What does a 21-year-old software student do when he is forced to live without electricity for four hours everyday? He waits for power to return, logs on to the Internet and gives a cyber call to everybody else in equal despair.

Now Girish Chhabria hopes that those joining his 'Anti Power Cut-Off' community on the popular networking website, Orkut, will be able to mobilise public opinion against load-shedding across the state.

Usually when something like this happens in America, the power company receives a lot of angry phone calls since our telephone lines are powered separately from our electricity (not to mention that everyone has a cell phone nowadays).

After a brief search on Orkut, I was unable to locate the forum exactly to verify whether or not it existed, although that may be due to it being taken down or that the community is not in English.

Either way, it is interesting to see how people are using Orkut to protest against the powers that be (pun not intended). Something like this in America would be unheard of, (strange as it may sound) as people generally use social networks to communicate, and aside from politics you really don't see us using the internet to protest against things like these.

Another Orkut Engineer Spotted?

Update: Alas, a beautiful post gone south. Thanks for the tip "Anonymous." Marissa is not an Orkut engineer, but a VP of Search Products & User Experience. Thanks for correcting my sloppy research!


Okay, I am not sure if she specifically works on Orkut, but it seems that she did help out the Google team enough to make a significant impact.

(BlogHer.com) Marissa leads the product management efforts on Google's search products – web search, images, groups, news, Froogle, the Google Toolbar, Google Desktop, Google Labs, and more. [...]

Her efforts have included designing and developing Google's search interface, internationalizing the site to more than 100 languages, defining Google News, Gmail, and Orkut, and launching more than 100 features and products on Google.com.

Marissa Mayer (who looks surprisingly younger than her age) will be at the speaking at the 2007 Blogher Business event this summer in Chicago.

You may have also noticed her face whenever you log into Orkut, as it can be seen on the top right.



With all of the identity theft going around, Google has certified her profile as authentic, as one may notice the Orkut medal hanging behind her name.

(Note: I wonder why the founder does not certify his profile, as there are probably a few dozen jokers claiming to be him).

Aside from Ellen, Orkut Engineers seem to be a bit shy in cyberspace. I wonder why that is?

Converting Images Into Text Art

(Hat Tip: A daily dose of Internet)

Okay, although this isn't exactly an Orkut Hack (or even Orkut related) this nifty program may help you convert images on your computer into text art (which you can then post on your friends scrapbook or forums).

Here is a brief sample of text art (saved as an image) of me:



You can download the program over here. I think it would be really cool if you could add color to the text images using Orkut's formatting code.

Orkut Under Construction Again?

Sigh...and I was just about to check my scrapbook too!

Perhaps that explains why I was receiving those mysterious donut errors today. ;-)

I guess I'll be blogging elsewhere for now (or perhaps at least on my personal journal).

With us barely in 2007, I think I am going to start some rumors (more like suggestions) on the next upcoming features on Orkut.

If I could have five features for Orkut, it would be:

• Orkut for my mobile phone.
• Scrapbook viewable to friends only.
• Integrate Picasa Web Albums with Orkut Albums.
• RSS feeds (aka site feeds) for communities.
• Personalize your profile page (without GreaseMonkey hacks)

These are my suggestions--does anybody have any others?

Note: Because the commenting system on Blogger is acting up, I am temporarily removing the word verification, although I'll be moderating comments to filter out spam (you gotta love them--they teach you patience).

Update: Comment system (as well as Orkut) are working again. Yeah!

A Semi Interesting Google Joke

While scanning some feeds, I came across this joke by Nick Douglas on ValleyWag:

Orkut Büyükkökten, creator of the Google social network that bears his name, dashes into CEO Eric Schmidt's office and says, "We have a million Brazilian users!"

Eric says, "Keep up the good work."

After Orkut leaves, Eric calls VP Marissa Mayer and asks, "How many is a brazillion again?"

I saw a similar joke on a political card over the holidays. Yeah, its a slow day in the blogosphere...that is unless you are YouTube.

Are Orkut Ads Really That Annoying?

(Hat Tip: IndianPad)

Jerry over on Orkut Plus! (a cool blog listing Orkut hacks) has posted a GreaseMonkey script enabling users to remove Google Ads on Orkut.

Now this is not a new hack (as other users have created similar scripts) but I was wondering if Google Ads are really that annoying? After all, most Blog*Spot bloggers (including Jerry) have them on their sites, not to mention many social networks as well.

I don't really mind the ads as they help Google cover their costs and keep the infamous donut errors at bay, but it seems that some (or perhaps many) people find the ads to be a bit irritating.

What do you guys think? Do you find the ads to be helpful, or annoying, and if the latter, why?

Are You Having An Orkutie Christmas?

I think the one thing I like about Christmas is that almost everybody (at least everybody that I meet) tends to swallow their pride and smile to complete strangers. The second thing I enjoy about Christmas is the presents! (although I enjoy giving out presents more than receiving...unless its a gift card of course!)

Speaking of presents, one cool thing I like about Orkut is that I can see what my friends want thanks to the wish list underneath their profile (and everybody knows finding the perfect gift is half the battle).

Aside from the materialistic part of giving, some Orkut members have started preparing for the holidays and here is what I noticed while surfing the forums:

• Over in the I LOVE CHRISTMAS community, Wences Laus started a holiday countdown early last month and it seems to be winding down as Christmas is approaching. (note: I wonder who will be the first to post Merry Christmas?)



• Wences Laus also seems to have started a Carol of the day in the SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS forum, although I am not sure if his friends made it all the way through this month.



• Over in the Christmas Birthday forum, it seems users are discussing the age old irony of being born on December 25^th, and how they are celebrating it.

As for me, I've finished buying my gifts (although I do have to personalize them) although I may be blogging light as I prepare for the coming holidays.

For those of you who celebrate it, Merry Christmas! (and for my Jewish friends, Happy Belated Hanukkah!).

Personal Note: Since Google is already celebrating early, do you guys/gals think Orkut should do something similar on their front page?

Inside Orkut Brazil (Belated Launch)

There appears to be another blogger focusing on Orkut on Blog*Spot! Introducing Inside Orkut Brazil!

Started by Luis Builherme, this blog focuses on Orkut (just like mine) but is in Portugese (which is helpful for our lovable Brazilian friends).

I came across this when Luis first scrapped me about the site, but have not had time to highlight about it until now. After coming across my blog over here, he was inspired to start an Inside Orkut for Brazilians.

And it looks like he is already providing some very useful information, warning users to beware of this Orkut copycat site that will actually upload a virus on your computer (perhaps Google should check this out).

I encourage everyone to subscribe to his feed, and if anyone know of any other Orkut related blogs out there, let me know by post here below.

Note: Adding this weblog underneath Orkut Related on the left sidebar.

What's Your Orkut Story?

One of the cool things about Orkut (that is if you live in Brazil or India) is that you can find long lost friends and relatives, and perhaps even strangers of interest.

Oormila Prahlad has posted her Orkut story over on her weblog. Here is a snippet of her post below:

I have suddenly become severely addicted to Orkut. Initially it was a twice-a-day fix but over time, the frequency of my addiction has drastically increased. Now I need it on an hourly basis. It is the natural fallout of being holed at home in a predictable routine with minimal links to the outside world. One discovers a small release that gives a definite high and before long, one is hooked. [...]

16 years back, while in exile in India during the Gulf War, I made it to the finals of the Kerala State Youth Festival Art competition. There, I was introduced to the art prodigy of our generation, Kavitha Balakrishnan. She of course, won first place and I was placed fourth, I think. Over the years, both of us were featured in the media quite often: she was the art prodigy and I was the writing prodigy. Kavitha Balakrishnan and Oormila Vijayakrishnan. Nice alliteration. We never met after that competition. Till two days back. On Orkut.

There are some other funny parts to her Orkut story which made it a great read (hint: read the whole thing). Stories like these are common in the US (well, at least with MySpace anyways) and I was wondering if anyone else had a similar story regarding Orkut?

Inside Orkut Just Made Blogs Of Note!

I just received a tip from Anand that I made the ever coveted Blogs Of Note (well at least for Blog*Spot users anyways).

For those of you visiting from the front page of Blogger, welcome to Inside Orkut, a blog focuses mainly on Google's bluest (and coolest) social network, Orkut.

Of course, if you do not use Orkut than this blog is of no use to you, but then you would be missing out on all the fun that happens inside.

For my American Friends: Orkut is basically the MySpace of Brazil, or the Facebook of India (not to mention a host of other countries).

If you ever needed a crash course on international culture, Orkut would be the one place where you could interact with people from various cultures, faiths, philosophies and meals (via cooking recipe's).

But in order for you to really understand Orkut, you'll have to find out about from the inside.

Note: If this is your first time on Orkut, be sure to check out the India Pakistan Friendship Club and see what all the cultural exchange is all about!

An Orkut Spelling Bee?

Ever wonder what your name would look like using Orkut's people font?

Google Blogoscoped has the details...