CoA - Your Daily Tech Digest

Happy New Year 2010

2009-12-31T23:59:00.001+05:30

Another year passes by making us learn a lot of things, see a lot of changes. The world of technology changed a lot, with loads of events popping up in the year gone by.

So lets say the year 2009 a sweet good bye and welcome the new year with open arms.

Wishing all our readers a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2010

Orkut Revamps its Interface - New Orkut

2009-11-11T00:55:00.003+05:30

So today I had an opportunity to try out the new Orkut, with credits to Sanchit. The hyped new interface of Orkut was pretty much a charm. To be frank it has got a lot of its looks from Facebook, so users who have migrated to facebook or use facebook regularly, would surely love the new avatar of Orkut.

From a users perspective Orkut has been a quite a change.. It hass changed from the sloppy and sloggy erstwhile orkut to a pretty fast version. The new Orkut is being called as My Orkut. The Google Link bar has made an appearance here too, displaying the services that are being offered by google.

The Look can be said a lot similar to what Facebook has, with a 5 color theme switcher. The recent visitor feature has also been tweaked up, with it displaying only profile pics of the recent visitors. The search bar also has two options - to search Orkut or to search the Web. The new look copies its link structure from Facebook, with the applications being clubbed into More links.

The Orkut Chat has shifted from its conventional left bottom position to right side, and status changer is adjacent to your Status Updates. Moreover the status messages have also become commentable like in other networks. The individual profile pages have also gone how facebook is, showing all the updates, but still, facebook comes out a lot cleaner than what New Orkut is.

One very good, feature that can be clearly seen, is how you search for friends, in your friend list, and in other's friends. It is blazing fast.

Some hardcore Orkut fans might disapprove of the changes made to it, but my persona lview is that, it is a lot better network than the earlier one,and is definitely worth switching.

It is still invite only, and you can get invites by joining the Get the New Orkut community.

LINKS : Related Posts

Hide Application Updates in Facebook

2009-10-04T11:24:00.001+05:30

Facebook has been growing in popularity subsantially lately, and moreso in India. as of late it has started out as a pretty good competitor for Orkut in India, which still by and large is the most popular social network. One of the most popular things to do in Facebook is playing games and using Applications commonly referred as Apps.

Now with this comes the real nuisance, as the apps start growing in popularity, more and more people start using it. And with taht the apps start posting updates to the users wall. Now this can be irritating to most users, who either do not play those games / apps and or are not interested in those updates.

Now here is a very simple way to hide such updates from appearing onto your home page.
Whenever you see such an update, all you haveto do is, hover to the top right of the post, a 'HIDE' button would be visible, click on that, Select Hide application(app nme would be displayed there), and you are done.
Please do not select Hide User (user/person's name) as all the updates from that user would be hidden then.

Here is a snapshot for your referral.

So till then enjoy, facebook... That is a lot cleaner facebook ;)
RELATED POSTS

Google Turns 11

2009-09-27T19:26:00.000+05:30

You love to Google, and so do we. The pet peeve (oopsie Search Engine ) has just turned 11. Starting out in September 1998, the Firm has risen from a tech initiative by a couple of Stanford Graduates to a multi billion Internet major.

The Firm was started by Sergey Brin, and Larry Page as a private firm, and they have been successful to incorporate google as a term synonymous with the term 'search'.

In order to celebrate the 11th anniversry, they have changed the doodle, which can be seen at the Google HomePage.

Read More about them at : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google , Services by Google, Google Products, and also what we had said about Google at Google Related Posts.

Till Then, enjoy Googling :)

Blogger Introduces Expandable Post Summaries - Jump Links

2009-09-27T03:12:00.001+05:30

So this the one update from Blogger team that everyone had been waiting for.The inbuilt feature to create expandable post summaries is finally here. It is Called Jump Links, and it was one of the most sought after feature in Blogger and there were many hacks available to do this. So now the feature has been finally introduced. So no need for those hacks, and you can easily integrate it into your Blog.

HOW TO ENABLE EXPANDABLE POST SUMMARIES

The expandable summaries can be enable from either of the two methods, either from 'Blogger in Draft' or through the New Post Editor, which can be enabled from the Blogger DashBoard by going through DashBoard > Settings > Basic

So All you need to do is click on the location where Summary has to be placed and Click on 'Insert jump Break' button.

Alternatively it could be done through adding the following Code in your Post through Edit HTML, in new post tab. Place it where you would want your Read More link to be placed.

To change the Read More >> text, all you need to do is, Goto Layout > Blog Post Widget and click on Edit
Make the changes in the following Field.

If you are using any uncustomised and default Template, the above steps should enable the Expandable post summaries on your blog.

FOR THOSE USING CUSTOMIZED TEMPLATES

For such blogs, there needs to be some manual editing in the blog Template.

Firstly perform the above steps

Goto Layout > Edit HTML > Download Full Template to backup your existing template.

Check the Expand Widget Templates check box

Now Search for the function:

<data:post.body/>

This is where your Blog Post is.

Just after the <data:post.body/>, Copy and paste the following Code

<b:if cond='data:post.hasJumpLink'>
<div class='jump-link'>
<a expr:href='data:post.url + "#more"'><data:post.jumpText/></a>
</div>
</b:if >

Now Preview the Changes and save the Template. You should be seeing the expandable post summaries on your Home Page.

So that was it, a breeze and easy tutorial to install it :)
So keep Blogging and enjoying the platform.

LINKS : Blogger Posts | Official Blog Post

Google SideWiki - Speak Out on any Page

2009-09-26T21:25:00.007+05:30

Love Commenting ?? Now just leave comments on any site using the latest from the Google stable, with a feature known as Google SideWiki. Sidewiki as the name says, is a combination of two words 'Side' + 'Wiki', meaning its a little wiki in the sidebar.

Sidewiki comes as a feature with Google toolbar, which is available for both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Chrome users would have to wait, but hopefully not for a long time, as they say :

Sidewiki is currently a feature in Google Toolbar (in Internet Explorer and Firefox),
but we are working on bringing it to Google Chrome, too.

Sidewiki can be downloaded from here : Download Sidewiki

FEATURES
Sidewiki requires you to login through your Google Account, which looks as a part of a longterm Google Strategy, making Google integral in everyones life.For those having Blogger accounts, of for this also has an added advantage, wherein it allows the owners to Comment as Page owner, and that Comment stays on top of all the other comments.

Sidewiki would also have an API for it, so that users can utilize it in a way they wish to. But thats only for developers to be concerned with, and nothing much for normal visitors to even think of. So feel something for a page, just sidewiki it out.
Speak out is the word from Google , go and enjoy it.

LINKS : Download Sidewiki | Related Posts

Ads on Blogger DashBoard

2009-06-28T00:00:00.002+05:30

Blogger - Google's very own blog hosting has started to show adsense ads on its dashboard of the late. These have been reported by some bloggers, after they publish the post. Not all bloggers are seeing ads after they publish the posts, which means google is rolling it out slowly, or testing the reaction of the Blogging community before rolling out completely.

The ads show on the right side of the the 'Post published Successfully ' page after a post has been published.

What it means to the Blogger ?

Nothing much except the fact it looks a bit out of the place, as bloggers would like to have their dashboards clean. Moreover it comes up on the last step of posting so not much of an issue.

What it means to Google ?

This means free moolah to Google as it does not have to pay bucks to the publisher for clicks on dashboard, and on the other hand takes in cash from the advertiser.

Conclusion : Looks like just another monetizing attempt by Google, which probably none of the bloggers would like it.

LINKS : Blogger.com | Blogger Related Posts

One Paisa Per Second calls in India

2009-06-27T01:24:00.007+05:30

TataDOCOMO, which is a joint venture of Tata Teleservices and NTT DOCOMO, INC. (Japan) has been launched. This is the GSM brand of the Tata Teleservices, who already have Tata Indicom in the CDMA segment. With the launch they have come up with pretty interesting plans, and the best of them is the One Paisa per second call schemes that they have introduced.

The service ahs eben launched only in select states namely 'Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh' and would slowly be expanded to other parts of nation. This is the first time taht a teleservice provider is offering its plans on a 'Per second' basis which probably should come cheaper to end users. The plan lets you to call anywhere in india at just one paisa per second.

The company has just launched its Prepaid services a sof now, and post paid services would be available from 1st of july. There are other attractive features including Free Voice-mail and 2paisa per second Voice Chat.

How the plans are accepted by the general public is yet to be seen, and we would surely wait for a complete national rollout. But this spells good news for customers who will have to pay only for the amount of time they actually talk.

LINKS: TataDOCOMO | Prepaid Plans | India

WolframAlpha – Computational Engine

2009-06-06T14:49:00.001+05:30

So you always thought that Web was all about searches and huge compilation of searches. You were right, but what about when you enter something in a search box and press enter. All you get is a set of links depicting what might be closest to what you had entered. What if you wished to do some calculations, or get info about something, and you need not go clicking on multiple links that the search page reveals.

WolframAlpha is for you

While WolframAlpha changes the way you hit the search box, it also does a hell lot of things for you. Be it be getting info about some day in the past, current info about a place, do mathematical sums and equations, knowin stock prices or whatever. WolframAlpha surely is a computational engine, rather than being what others are – ‘search engine’

The Innovative engine is launched by Wolfram Research, and surely is something to look out for in the future. Who else now wants to solve those complex trigonometric equations when you have an engine to do it right away for you.

Happy Computing…

LINKS : WolframAlpha | Wolfram Research | Other Websites Related Posts

Google has a new Favicon yet again

2009-01-11T15:32:00.007+05:30

How many of you have noticed the new favicon Google is sporting these days? Its more colorful and livid, than ever. Last year too Google had changed the favicon from the legendary 'G in a box' favicon. And now again it has changed its looks, to a more colorful one.

Last year when the favicon was changed it was a small g with simplicity but now google has changed it to a more lively and colorful g. The font case is still lowercase but the background is resembling more to the colors of the Chrome Logo.

To me its an okay favicon, because Google is known for its simplicity and elegance, which I find somewhat missing in this favicon. But the chaps at google might have something related with it so as to change it to such a bright one.
How do you find the new favicon ?
LINKS : Google | Google Related Posts | Why google changed favicon last time

We hate Spam as Much as you do

2008-12-09T14:03:00.000+05:30

Of the late we have been facing quite some serious issues as far as spam on the Blog goes. there have been quite a few spam comments on the blog, and most of those are the ones clearly selling some vague products. Now each blog has a niche and as far as CorpseofAttic goes, we would stick to it, and would not tolerated any kind of spammy content on the Blog

Before posting comments please do read into the commenting policy of the Blog, and post relevantly. Post comments as you would like others to post on your Blog/website. Here are a few snapshots of those spam comments that I was talking about.

So Such kind of Comments would not be tolerated at any cost. Healthy discussions are always welcome and always appreciated. So let the comments flow in healthy and large.

Chat on Orkut Goes live

2008-12-02T22:02:00.000+05:30

Orkut has just launched another feature which can be said 'Just another Copy' of a facebook feature. Orkut has had some updates of the late but this is one feature which would make orkut users not to leave the Orkut pages, for chatting. Now on you can chat from the orkut page and need not go to gmail for the same.

If you have seen a message like this one on your orkut home page, this means Chat is live on Orkut.

All you have to do is go to the settings page, and and select the Chat tab there. Therein you get an option to select which all friend groups to allow the chat feature to be used with. Once you select the desired friend lists, just save the settings and you are done.

To chat all you have to do is to select the dot in front of the friend's name, and you can engage in chat with your friend.

The status can also be selected within the orkut page. Just click the green dot on the top of the orkut page on the right of change theme link and select the status between 'online, busy, invisible and offline' amongst them. This way you can set your orkut online status. Here is a snapshot for ready reference.

What do you think of the feature do tell us about that. Till than Keep orkutting and chatting at the same time.

Related Posts : Orkut | Gmail | Facebook

10 Most Popular Orkut Apps [India]

2008-12-02T01:16:00.000+05:30

Since the launch of Orkut Apps in India , some apps have gained quite some popularity, and have clearly outpaced other apps in terms of sheer publicity and the number of users. Some have gone down with the course of time and some have emerged as new leaders. So here is a list of most popular Orkut Apps which I have collected by the number of recent updates delivered through them.

So as we start, we have the current leaders who are currently showing most updates.

1. Slapster

This is the current hot favorite, who loads or chaps being slapped for some reason or the other. And some slapped for no reason whatsoever ;) So Add Slapster and Start Slapping.

2. Chakpak Movies

I personally dislike such apps, but loads of people are taking the movie quizzes and asking other friends to showoff their scores. Good App for movie buffs, and worth a try for them. Add Chakpak Movies to your Profile.

3. Teen Patti

Any card games lover would just simply love this app. Teen patti is actually Indian version of the Card Game ‘Flash’ and so is not that hard to understand. Play it, make virtual money with it, and show off ;) Play Teen Patti.

4. Emote

Ooze out your feelings with Emote. The app has lots of custom smileys, which you can use to show off your emotions. Get emote for your profile. And yes people still Emote .

5. CricXchange

This app has been on downslide as of now, but its fervor was at its high during the IPL season, but has died out since. Track and manage your Players with CricXchange

6. Bollympics

This is the rising sun in the game apps area. Loads of free and fundoo games which anyone would love Playing. Check out the Bollympics app, and do try out ramgarh riders ;)

Other Notable Apps : Music iLike, iPoke , Chat and Free SMS

If you like any other app, or you find it fundoo enough to be shared with others, share it with us.

Weirdest & Funniest Orkut Errors

2008-11-28T13:13:00.000+05:30

Now as with India, Most people love Orkut, and it can be simply regarded as the Most popular social network in India, and with that fanatic fan following, we do face some weird Errors. And here I have tried to make some of the weirdest errors ever noticed on Orkut. Some of them are pretty funny and some are silly. Have a look.

Here we go :

1. Wait for some time to send scrap

This was one really sick message. Two strangers can’t chat on Orkut. Either add as a friend, or wait for sometime for each scrap to be sent. Now This one was bad.

2. Orkut Under Maintenance

This was a maintenance, which Orkut underwent a couple of months ago. and unlike most maintenance schedules of Orkut, this one was a major one. We could not log onto Orkut for quite some hours.

3. Can’t Create Scrap

Now Frankly speaking I don’t know the meaning of this message. I mean Why can’t I send a scrap to one of my friends, and above that, Why can’t I create it.

4. Try Orkut in Google Chrome

This might be a Marketing strategy for Google, but for the end user it is one of the naggiest messages to be ever seen on Orkut. As if the ads on communities were not enough, that we have been asked to use a new browser.

5. Could not Understand Request

This one is quite Funny. If the Orkut can’t understand the request, then who is expected to do it.

If you have any other funny incident with Orkut do let us know, along with a snapshot of that ;)

Gmail gets Themes

2008-11-21T09:02:00.003+05:30

The amazingly simple gmail, one of the most loved mail service now just got tweaked. It just got splashed with some colors and themes.

Today when I logged onto Gmail, the first thing I noticed was the changed gmail login screen, and a new feature depicting, that Gmail now has Themes.

Onto logging into Gmail, there is a notification showing how to Directly go to themes tab.

For all those who want to do it manually have to go to settings and then to Themes tab

Gmail > Settings > Themes

there are numerous no. of themes to select from, so just go and tweak your Gmail :D

Sync Firefox bookmarks and passwords

2008-11-16T02:17:00.000+05:30

All of us need to keep our passwords in safe place. Firefox is one of the most preferred browser for Power users , and Almost all of us keep bookmarks and passwords saved in Firefox itself. There used to be an extension named Google Browser sync, which used to do all the password syncing work with ease.

Foxmark is a Firefox extension which syncs all your Firefox bookmarks on different PCs, so that you would never miss the Bookmarks anywhere you go. In addition to storing bookmarks , it also saves your Firefox Passwords, so that they also can be retrieved elsewhere.

All you have to do is create a free account at Foxmarks. (This can be easily done while setting up Foxmarks on your PC.) Remember your Username and Password. They have an additional info named PIN code, which you should remember to access your synchronized passwords.

After setting it all, just click on synchronize , and you are done with your Password and Bookmarks syncing. The tool is a breeze to use with and should be preferred by anyone who wishes to access same settings from anywhere on the web.You can access your Bookmarks by visiting my Foxmarks.

Links : Foxmarks Homepage | Foxmarks extension

Batch Convert Image Formats

2008-11-14T12:30:00.000+05:30

There are times when you need to have the Image formats converted from one to another. I too faced similar issues when I had to convert some gaming Snapshots (default bitmaps .bmp ) into other formats. Bitmaps are the most un-optimized formats for Web Graphics, and it is better to use other formats like .png , .gif or .jpeg (preferably in that order ) for web applications.

Such an Issue also arises while converting Images from a Digital Camera. So Here is a Little useful app that let batch conversion be done with utter ease, minus all the fuss, that most costly apps come with. This little proggie is named Bulk Image Converter and is a freeware.

All you have to do is select the base folder, which has to be converted. Select the Input format of pictures, and the Output Format you wish to be the outcome in. Click on Start button, and within moments you are done. The app is a breeze, and converts the images pretty much good.

You can download it for free at SourceForge.net . here are the Related Links for Downloads:

LINKS : Bulk Image Converter Homepage | Download Bulk Image Converter

Happy Diwali

2008-10-28T00:00:00.000+05:30

Today is the festival of lights, and I wish each and everyone of our readers a very happy and prosperous Diwali. May this festival of lights bring happiness and joy to each and everyone of us. may the God shower his Blessings on those who need it the most.

Even Google is celebrating the Festival of Lights :) Enjoy to the max, but take care of your safety too.

Blogger adds preview to comments

2008-10-27T11:58:00.001+05:30

Blogger has added Preview feature to the Comments section. This is a good feature, giving the fact, similar feature is already being used in most social networks, and more so because it shows the Comment author the glimpse of what and how are his comments going to appear. This Feature combined with Inline comments for Blogger and subscription to post-comments, makes the commenting system of Blogger pretty much interesting.

This is a Snapshot how the Preview button looks along with the inline comments for Blogger, Pretty much good, something like preview scrap feature in Orkut.

The actual preview of comments also looks good, but for long comments you’ll have to scroll to see the full comments.

Things that can be tweaked : The preview comment is not fully matched with individual blog theme. As of now its a general preview. So if preview can be according to the Blog theme, would be a welcome move. Anyways good feature. Keep up the good work Blogger team.

How to Host Javascript for Blogger

2008-10-24T17:16:00.001+05:30

In last post we had checked on the various aspects on why should we host the various JavaScript's to be used with Blogger Templates on our own hosts/servers. This is extremely useful for the hacks such as WordPress Styled Comments for Blogger, which are extremely popular. So now lets see how to do this for most of the Blogger hacks, in which we take the example of our own WordPress Styled comments for Blogger.

Here is the step by step guide on how to do this with Blogger.

STEP 1: Firstly Download the file onto your Computer, By right clicking on the JavaScript download link below the post, and select ‘save link as’ or ‘save target as’ depending upon the browser you are using.(see screenshot)

STEP 2: Now upload this file onto the hosts mentioned in our Previous Post, and copy the direct link of the file.

STEP 3: Now lets Customize our Widget. After customizing our widget, click on the Add to my blog link. The page opens onto ‘add Page Element’ page. Wait a second, don’t rush onto adding it.

STEP 4: Click on to ‘Edit Content’ link visible on the page. Clicking that would expand the widget code.

On the Expanded widget code, select the URL of the JavaScript file. This is in the initial lines, and comes after <script style="text/javascript" src="

This is clearly visible in the screenshot below.

STEP 5: Now replace the Highlighted URL with the Direct link of the JavaScript on your own server – done in STEP 2

STEP 6: Click on Add Widget Button, and you are done. As simple as That.

THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY ADDED THE WIDGETS:

Perform STEP 1 and STEP 2.
Go to your blogs layout , Click on the edit button on your Widget, to see the HTML Code. Replace the JavaScript URL as shown in Step 4.
Save the Widget, and you are done.

Any Help! Feel free to ask.

Host Javascript files on Own Servers

2008-10-22T12:25:00.000+05:30

This is a commonly faced problem with Blogger Blogs. Sometimes the widgets they are using just do not show up, and the most primary reason for that to be is the downtime of the host of the JavaScript Files. Now myself and most of the guys out there who share Blogger Widgets, like recent comments, top commenter etc, Host the shared JavaScript files for the widgets either on some free host, or on Google pages or any other hosting account they have. As of myself, I host then on Ripway, a free but quality file host.

As more and more users start using a particular widget more bandwidth is consumed, and this results in bandwidth being exceeded, and downloads being turned off for some time by the webhost. So it is better to host these files on your own servers.

There are a few good options for these:

1. > Google Pages

This is frankly the best and easiest option, and has enough space to host and manage personal JavaScript files, and images. It has a Bandwidth cap to it, but this is not disclosed by Google, but a single blog won’t run out of bandwidth even on Google pages. So if you have a running Google pages account, you can use the services for free. Google does not accept new pages registrations.

2. > Ripway.com

This is what I personally feel like best, and you can manage the bandwidth as it gives you a daily usage details of bandwidth being used. As of now the total space provided for free users is 30 MB, and Bandwidth limit is 150 MB. The best part, you can upgrade to a premium plan if you need to do so.

3. > Other Free Hosts

This is the other option left, Signup for any free webhost and use the space to host your files, and use the direct links for the widgets. You can also use your own host for storing files. While signing up for any freehost, check whether the host provides Hot linking or direct linking.

So you can link to files on your own servers to reduce/nullify the downtime effect, and would serve you better. I’ll Show how to do this with Blogger Blogs in my next Post. Stay Tuned…

Are EntreCard ads Worthy?

2008-10-21T11:51:00.000+05:30

Entrecard has been one of the most preferred and widely used Free advertising and traffic building network. They have been quite popular since they came into limelight, and of last they have made quite a few changes to make all ad formats available for those who wish to use it via OIO Publisher. So far so good.

But as far as this Blog goes not much click-through have been observed from the entrecard ads – be it be incoming or outgoing. Maybe ads are not well designed, or visitors don’t like EntreCard widget. And secondly the network is not transparent when it comes to advertising on a blog. The basic thumb rule states that the more the Blog traffic the better are clicks, but even a normal inspection can reveal, that even for blogs which have high entrecard prices to advertise, and have long queues waiting, they have bad Alexa ranks-which is a layman’s best traffic monitoring tool. So most of the times your entrecard credits go waste. And for a scarce card dropper it does not seems to be a good option to display such widget on website.

So short term conclusion that I derive is that the EntreCard widget is better suited for startup blogs, who need to make social networks, but if you are looking for quality traffic, then this is not the one for you.

SO I HAVE STOPPED ACCEPTING ENTRECARD ADS ON MY BLOG & WIDGET WOULD GO OFFLINE AS SOON AS THE LAST ADVERTISEMENT GOES OFFLINE(which should be over by today )

Orkut : Number of Profile Visitors feature removed

2008-10-20T21:04:00.001+05:30

I was Browsing Orkut last night and first thing I saw was that The recent visitor counts were gone. Orkut had been updating the network for quite some time now, and maybe This feature was felt redundant, and unworthy of being shown.

Last night the recent comments on friend’s photos were also not showing but they were back in the morning, but not the recent visitor count. Removal of this feature would not make much of a difference unless you are someone who likes to show-off the Visitor Count :P . Check out other Orkut related updates and tricks.

THIS FEATURE IS AGAIN SHOWING ON HOME PAGE as of Oct 21, 2008 EVENING. Almost 2 days of glitch.. ehhh... So again start showing off your profile visits ;)