< Google Made /> :

The Making of the Sudoku Gadget | Google Wave

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:40:37 PST

If you watched the Google I/O keynote, you may have seen Lars and Stephanie playing each other in a furious game of competitive Sudoku - and Lars failing miserably (well, he has to fail at something). I originally wrote this as a single-player game, but when I joined the Google Wave team, I realized it would make a perfect fit for a Wave-enabled Gadget.

To make a game or app take advantage of the real-time Wave experience, you need to have a good understanding of how the gadget data is shared and propagated among all the Wave participants. Shared gadget data is stored as states, which are simply name/values pairs - like an associative array or hash map. So, when designing the Sudoku Gadget, I first had to decide what data needed to be stored, how to store it, and how to detect their changes.

When the Sudoku game first begins, we need states to remember the sequences of numbers that represents the puzzle and the solution. Since state data can only be of type string, I elected to store the JavaScript array of the puzzle and solution as JSON literals:

var PUZZLE = "[0,8,2,4,0,5,7,0,3,0,1,0,6,8,3,5,0,0,5,3,9,7,0,0,6,4,8,0,7,4,3,5,6,1,8,9,8,0,0,9,0,7,0,0,6,9,6,3,1,2,8,4,7,0,7,4,5,0,0,9,2,3,1,0,0,8,5,3,4,0,6,0,3,0,6,2,0,1,8,5,0]";
var SOLUTION = "[6,8,2,4,9,5,7,1,3,4,1,7,6,8,3,5,9,2,5,3,9,7,1,2,6,4,8,2,7,4,3,5,6,1,8,9,8,5,1,9,4,7,3,2,6,9,6,3,1,2,8,4,7,5,7,4,5,8,6,9,2,3,1,1,2,8,5,3,4,9,6,7,3,9,6,2,7,1,8,5,4]"

You can easily generate or parse the JSON literals of JavaScript arrays or objects with the library from json.org. Then use the method submitDelta() to submit this data as gadget states to the server:

var states = {};
var states["PUZZLE"] = puzzle;
var states["SOLUTION"] = solutoin;
wave.getState().submitDelta(states);

As soon as this call is made, each Wave participant that has registered a state update callback via setStateCallback() will receive a callback. In the callback, the gadget can use the value of the "PUZZLE" state to display the same Sudoku puzzle to all its participants, and uses the value of the "SOLUTION" state to determine if an input is correct.

To make the game competitive, I also needed to maintain state data to keep track of the correct answers for each participant. When a correct answer is verified, the gadget will submit a "cell_INDEX" state, where INDEX is the position of the board, with the value set as the username. So, if I answered the third square on the first row of the sudoku correctly, I would set this gadget state:

var states = {};
var states["cell_2"] = "Austin Chau"
wave.getState().submitDelta(states);

The setting of this state would again trigger the state callback method for each participant. The callback has logic to detect state updates that have names beginning with "cell_" (using this RegEx: /^cell_([0-9]+)$/ to do that) and then updates the UI to reflect a square being correctly filled.

A similar approach can be applied to other types of collaborative gadgets. In fact, I know there are plenty of variants to make collaborative sudoku. How about "Speed Sudoku" where all users get to play with the same puzzle and see who can finish first? Or maybe "Team Sudoku" where you can really work with other participants to complete the puzzle? Please check out the documentation for the Google Wave Gadgets API, we can't wait to see what you guys can come up with!

Source: http://googlewavedev.blogspot.com/2009/06/making-of-sudoku-gadget.html

The Complete Guide to Google Wave | www.completewaveguide.com

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:10:07 PST

This book's contents are freely available to view online. Click on a chapter to read it.

Chapter 1	Meet Google Wave
	Find out what Google Wave is and what problems it solves.
Chapter 2	Get Started with Wave
	Set up your Wave account and create your first wave.
Chapter 3	Manage Your Wave Contacts
	Find and add people and groups to collaborate with in Wave.
Chapter 4	Find and Organize Waves
	Tag, file, search, and filter waves.
Chapter 5	Dive Deeper into Wave
	Add rich content to your waves like maps and photo slide shows.
Chapter 6	Master Wave's Interface
	Navigate Wave from the keyboard and customize your Wave interface.
Chapter 7	Wave Gadgets
	Add interactive content to your waves with gadgets.
Chapter 8	Wave Bots
	Automatically update the contents of your waves with bots.
Appendix A	What Wave Can't Do
	It's not just you. See what's NOT working in the current version of Wave, and what features the Wave team has promised are coming.

Appendix B	Contribute to The Complete Guide to Google Wave
	In the spirit of Google Wave, this guide is a collaborative effort. We need you (yes, you) to help revise and expand this guide as Wave evolves.

If you just can't get enough of Wave, see also our growing compilation of Wave-related links and video clips from across the web.

The Complete Guide to Google Wave is a comprehensive user manual by Gina Trapani with Adam Pash.

Source : http://www.completewaveguide.com/

Login With Google Friend Connect [Now Powering Discuz!]

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:59:28 PST

We are excited to announce the release of the Google Friend Connect Plugin for Discuz! 7.0. This project is hosted at http://code.google.com/p/google-friend-connect-plugins/.

Google Friend Connect allows simple user authentication using any OpenID account such as Google, Yahoo, or AIM. Instead of filling in yet another profile form, your users can connect to their existing identities, showing current profile pictures and information. The ability to easily integrate profiles increases user engagement and activity on Google Friend Connect enabled sites.

Google Friend Connect plugins are currently available for WordPress, phpBB and Drupal. Today, we're very pleased to announce a new plugin that will make it easy for webmasters to use Google Friend Connect on their Discuz! sites. Discuz! is one of the most popular forum platforms, so we think a lot of users and site-owners will benefit from this new tool.

Example page: after installing Google Friend Connect Plugin

Example page: user successfully logged into forum using Google Friend Connect Plugin

Features:

Based on the latest release of Discuz! (Discuz! 7.0).
Multi-language support: English, Simplified Chinese(UTF8, GBK) and Traditional Chinese(UTF8, BIG5).
Support for various templates in Discuz!. Even if you use your own customized templates, it will not require extra effort to install this plugin.
Easy to install. Just download the plugin, upload it to your server directory, and edit the configuration files according to the installation instructions.
Use Google Friend Connect profile information, such as your profile picture and your personal bio, in your Discuz! profile. The plugin can also propagate changes from your Google Friend Connect profile to Discuz!, keeping your information current.

To see the plugin in action, please visit the demo sites (in English and Chinese). If you are a Discuz! forum administrator, you can download the plugin as a zip archive and follow the instructions for installation to deploy it on your site. The code is open sourced under Apache License 2.0, and contributions are not only welcomed, but encouraged. This project hosts an issue tracker which will be populated with known issues and requested enhancements, so please use the tracker to report any new bugs or incompatibilities you find, or to request new features.

For more information, please check the user manual.

Recent posts from Google blog's :
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/choose-which-messages-get-downloaded.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/transparency-choice-and-control-now.html
http://buzz.blogger.com/2009/11/improving-our-communication-of-blogger.html
http://en.blog.orkut.com/2009/10/introducing-new-version-of-orkut-fun.html

Google Friend Connect, now more personalized :-)

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:54:15 PST

On the subway, I bump elbows with a guy for 20 city blocks without exchanging a single word. Forty-five minutes later, I find the same guy at the local guitar shop, and we start to talk — turns out he plays a Gibson Les Paul just like I do. We may have been strangers on the train, but in the guitar shop, we discover our shared passion for guitars.

Often, the web can feel like that subway. There are probably people commuting to the places you regularly visit, but you don’t know who those people are, and your paths may never cross. With Google Friend Connect, we've been helping millions of website owners make their sites more like that guitar shop — a social place where visitors can get to know each other — and less like the anonymous subway ride.

With this in mind, we're thrilled to introduce a new set of Friend Connect features that let site owners help their visitors get to know each other and personalize their site's experience and content.

Break the ice

Visitors to your site can get to know each other better by sharing details about themselves that are relevant to the site they're on. As a site owner, you can help them do this by visiting the new "Interests" section of your Friend Connect account, where you can add site-relevant questions that people can answer when joining your website or via the poll gadget. For instance, if you have a music website, you might ask people to share their favorite bands, the last concert they attended, or where they discover new music. Or if you run a hiking site, you can ask them about a favorite hike or national park. The details people share are added to their Friend Connect public profiles for your site, which are seen by other site visitors. This way, your visitors can learn more about each other in the context of the interests that bring them to your website.

We've also added the ability for people to send private messages to each other. That way, when a user discovers someone who shares their interests, they can send a message to that person via their Friend Connect profile to start a dialogue.

And as with any data you collect on Friend Connect, you can use open export tools and APIs to integrate this information with any other systems you might use. The interests people share on your website are also made available in the new "Community data" section of your account in the form of easy-to-read charts.

Personalize your website experience

The ice-breaking isn't limited to your visitors; you'll learn more about them too. The interests people share make it possible for you to create a more personalized experience on your website in a number of ways:

Send custom newsletters: The new "Newsletter" section of your account lets you create, send and manage newsletters. And with the help of "Interests," you can either send out newsletters to all your subscribers, or send out custom newsletters to different segments of your subscribers, based on the interest responses they submit.
Personalized content gadget: This new Friend Connect gadget automatically presents a dynamic personalized set of links to your site's content that matches each visitor's specific interests. Is a visitor learning how to play swing music? Links to articles your site has published about playing swing are presented to him or her.
Google ads: For those of you who display ads on your website, your Friend Connect account now includes an "AdSense" section that lets you enable Google ad units that are matched both to your site's content and to the interests users publicly share on your website.

All these new features are easy to implement and require no coding whatsoever. Here's a quick tour of what Friend Connect now has to offer:

If you'd like to see the new features in action, check out some of our partners' sites, like sfstation.com, huffingtonpost.com, metrolyrics.com, and pachakam.com.

We're excited to see the web evolve into a place where visitors of all websites can get to know each other — to share and discuss the things they care about most. To get started with Friend Connect, visit www.google.com/friendconnect.

New From Gmail Blog | Choose which messages get downloaded for offline use

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:10:25 PST

Like an increasing number of people these days, I like to stay productive during my flights (even those without wifi access). A long flight is a perfect opportunity to go through everything in my inbox and catch up on older mail. I use Offline Gmail in Gmail Labs to access my mail while disconnected. However, up until now, Offline Gmail heuristically picked which messages get downloaded for offline use. This meant that sometimes not enough mail from my Inbox would be available, but the Chat logs that I certainly didn't need on the flight would be there.

From now on, once you enable Offline Gmail from the Labs tab under Settings, you can choose which messages get downloaded. On the Offline tab under Settings, you'll see your current settings and be able to set how much mail you want to download from each of your labels. I chose to download everything in my Inbox and important labels, as well as recent messages from the last month from other labels.

When you hit save, Gmail will synchronize new messages you didn't have downloaded before and remove the ones you're not planning to read from your hard drive. You can always change your settings back to keep fewer or more messages later on -- fewer messages means Offline Gmail runs faster. Questions or comments? Let us know!

Posted by Maria Khomenko, Software Engineer | Original Source : http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/choose-which-messages-get-downloaded.html

Holiday Logos and Events – Google style! 2009 [October - November]

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:41:18 PST

Nov 02, 2009

Loy Krathong - (Thailand)

Nov 02, 2009

Day of the Dead - (Mexico)

Oct 31, 2009

Happy Halloween! - (Selected Countries)

Oct 31, 2009

Happy Halloween! - (Selected Countries)

Oct 31, 2009

Happy Halloween! - (Selected Countries)

Oct 31, 2009

Happy Halloween! - (Selected Countries)

Oct 29, 2009

Turkish National Day - (Turkey)

Oct 26, 2009

Austrian National Day - (Austria)

Oct 22, 2009

Mei Lanfang's Birthday - (China)

Oct 21, 2009

Rampo Edogawa's Birthday - (Japan)

Oct 15, 2009

Mikhail Lermontov's Birthday - (Russia)

Oct 14, 2009

Teacher's Day - (Poland)

Oct 13, 2009

150 Years Since Multatuli - (Netherlands)

Oct 12, 2009

Canadian Thanksgiving - (Canada)

Oct 10, 2009

Giuseppe Verdi's Birthday - (Italy)

Oct 09, 2009

Hangul Proclamation Day - (Korea)

Oct 07, 2009

Invention of the Bar Code - (Global)

Oct 03, 2009

Moon Viewing Day (Tsukimi) - (Japan)

Oct 03, 2009

Korean Thanksgiving - (Korea)

Oct 03, 2009

Mid-Autumn Festival - (China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan)

Oct 03, 2009

Doodle 4 Google Winner Germany - (Germany)

Oct 02, 2009

Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday - (Selected Countries)

Oct 02, 2009

Brazil Wins 2016 Olympics - (Brazil)

Oct 01, 2009

China's National Day - (China)

Oct 04, 2009

40th Anniversary of Sesame Street

When to use Google Wave? Few examples to get you thinking

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:45:29 PST

Organizing events

Keep a single copy of ideas, suggested itinerary, menu and RSVPs, rather than using many different tools. Use gadgets to add weather, maps and more to the event.

Group Projects
Collaboratively work in real time to draft content, discuss and solicit feedback all in one place rather than sending email attachments and creating multiple copies that get out of sync.

Photo Sharing

Drag and drop photos from your desktop into a wave. Share with others. Use the slideshow viewer. Everyone on the wave can add their photos, too. It is easy to make a group photo album in Google Wave.

Meeting Notes

Prepare a meeting agenda together, share the burden of taking notes and record decisions so you all leave on the same page. Team members can follow the minutes in real time, or review the history using Playback.

Brainstorming
Bring lots of people into a wave to brainstorm - live concurrent editing makes the quantity of ideas grow quickly! It is easy to add rich content like videos, images, URLs or even links to other waves. Discuss and then work together to distill down to the good ideas.

Interactive games
Add a gadget to a wave to play live interactive games with your friends (we're hooked on Sudoku!). See everyone's moves as they make them in a fast-paced game or take a break and come back later.
Check out the featured extensions.

I want Google Wave

Fun, new features, faster browsing, the same great friends [new version of orkut]

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:41:42 PST

Today is a very special day for the orkut team (and hopefully for you as well). After months of hard work, we are thrilled to announce the launch of a brand spanking new version of orkut. We've been listening carefully to all of the feedback that you've so diligently left us and have rebuilt the site from the bottom up using the Google Web Toolkit (GWT). Doing so has allowed us to create a faster, richer and more intuitive experience for you and continue to increase our pace of innovation. With the new version of orkut you'll find:

Fewer pages, faster browsing: We've concentrated orkut's principal actions onto your homepage, making it a one-stop-shop for nearly everything that you'd like to do. Now you can chat, watch videos, and browse and search within your full friends and communities lists without ever having to open a new page. See a photo, video, or status message in your activity stream that you'd like to comment on? Just start typing away. After all, fewer pages and a GWT interface mean less time waiting for things to load and more time doing what really matters– hanging out with your friends!

A clean, simple interface: We've reorganized the most important activites on orkut so that they are easy to find and even easier to use. Look out for larger pictures, easier to access notifications, targeted friend suggestions, and key updates closer to the top of your homepage. Now you can even use your friends' profile pages to keep up with their most recent activities and leave them scraps.

Greater personalization: Make your orkut profile and homepage truly your own by choosing the color that best fits your style. Have a personality that's too unique to be captured by words? We've also made it possible for you to customize your "about me" section, adding video, OpenSocial applications and much more to your array of options.

And much, much more: This is just a taste of all the new things you'll find on orkut. Learn more about all of the different features you'll find on the new interface by visiting this page on the orkut Help Center.

Excited about the new version of the site? Then you'll also be excited to know that we're returning to orkut's roots and granting access to it via invitations. Starting today, there are two ways to get invites:

Join Poppy and Shashi on the official community(www.orkut.co.in/neworkut) for insights into the new version of orkut and participate in one of the many activities that will be taking place there. Be sure to check back often as the owners will be regularly announcing new ways to get access.
Find a friend who's already using the new version of orkut and ask for an invite. You can see who's already gotten access via your activity stream or by this icon that will appear on your friends' profile pages, next to their names.

We'd like to think of this as the beginning of a new evolution for orkut, so please stay posted for even more improvements coming in the near future. If you'd like to leave us a comment just visit the orkut Help Forum.

Hope to see you on the new version of orkut soon!

Original Source : http://en.blog.orkut.com/2009/10/introducing-new-version-of-orkut-fun.html

New Post From Blogger Buzz : New Transparent Navbar Styles on Your Blogs :-)

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:41:55 PST

As a blog author, you've probably spent more than a little time getting exactly the right "look" for your blog. A blog is an outlet for creative expression, and how your blog looks says as much about you as what is written on it. And we at Blogger are committed to giving you the tools to make a great-looking blog.

The Blog*Spot navigation bar ("navbar") is one area where we realized that there was some room for improvement. Our four traditional color scheme choices — Blue, Black, Tan, and Silver — are somewhat limited, especially if your blog's background color is lime green or hot pink.

That's why we have added two new color schemes — "Transparent Light" and "Transparent Dark." These new color schemes take advantage of the ability of modern browsers to render transparency (a technique known to web designers as "alpha blending"). This allows the navbar background to blend together with your blog's background color and pattern. The "Transparent Light" color scheme has a semi-transparent white background, producing subtle pastel colors, while the background of "Transparent Dark" is a semi-transparent black that produces a shaded look.

In addition, we've simplified and slimmed down the look of all the navbars, so that they will be more likely to harmonize with the aesthetics of your blog.

To enable the Transparent Light or the Transparent Dark navbar, go to Layout | Page Elements, then click Edit next to the navbar widget:

We had a lot of fun adding this feature and hope you like it too. Try it out!

Original Source : http://buzz.blogger.com/2009/10/new-transparent-navbar-styles.html

Gmail is now more Secured : Tips from GMail

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:43:38 PDT

As part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, we recently posted about how to pick a smart password. Having a strong password goes a long way in helping to protect your data, but there are a number of additional steps you can take to help you keep your Gmail account secure:

1. Remember to sign out. Especially when using a public computer, be careful to sign out of your Google account when you're finished. Just click the "Sign out" link at the top right corner of your inbox. If you're using a public or shared computer and want to be extra thorough, you can also clear the browser's cache, cookies and history. Then, completely close the browser. On your personal computer, you can also lock your computer with a password-protected screensaver if you need to step away momentarily. Learn the best ways to lock your screen in Windows or in Mac OS X. Forgot to sign out? Open up a new Gmail session on another computer and use Gmail's remote sign out feature to close any sessions that might still be open elsewhere.

2. Be careful about sending certain sensitive information via email. Once you send an email, you're no longer in control of the information it contains. The recipients, if they so choose, could forward the email or post its contents in a public place. Even if you know and trust the people you're emailing, that information may become exposed if their accounts become compromised or they get a virus on their machines. As a rule of thumb, should you need to provide a credit card number or financial account number to respond to a message, provide it over the phone or in person — not over email. And never share your password with anyone. Google does not email you to ask you for your password, your social security number, or other personal information — so don't send it!

3. Enable "Always use HTTPS." Any time you visit a webpage, your computer needs to send and receive information across the Internet. HTTPS is used to encrypt data as it is transmitted between computers on the Internet, so look for the "https" in the URL bar of your browser to indicate that the connection between your computer and Gmail's servers is encrypted. We use HTTPS on the Gmail login page, and you can choose to protect your entire Gmail session with HTTPS as well. HTTPS can make your mail slower, so we let you make the choice for yourself. Open Settings and choose "Always use HTTPS" on the General tab if you want to turn it on.

4. Be wary of unexpected attachments.To help protect you from viruses and malware,Gmail automatically scans every attachment when it's delivered to you, and again each time you open a message. Attachments you send are also scanned. That said, no system is foolproof, so if you happen to get an email from a friend with an attachment you didn't expect, don't be afraid to ask the sender what it is before you decide whether to open it.

5. Make sure your account recovery information is up-to-date. Your account recovery information helps you regain access to your account if you ever forget your password, or if someone gains access to your account without your permission. We currently offer several paths to account recovery. Every Gmail user must select a security question and answer — be sure to choose a combination that is easy for you to remember, but hard for others to guess or come across by investigating. Don't choose a question like "What is my favorite color?" as others may easily guess the answer. We also encourage you to provide a secondary email address and/or a mobile phone number, so we can send you a link to reset your password if you lose access to your account.

You can find additional security tips for Gmail in our Help Center. Learn more about protecting your computer, website, and personal information by checking out our security series on the Google blog or visiting http://www.staysafeonline.org

Original Source:

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/gmail-account-security-tips.html

Related Links:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/celebrating-national-cyber-security.html

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/choosing-smart-password.html

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/remote-sign-out-and-info-to-help-you.html

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/making-security-easier.html

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/search/label/security

http://www.staysafeonline.org/

This is New From Gmail on iPhone and Android

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:40:45 PDT

New Update From ORKUT Blog : Keep your finger on the pulse of orkut with www.orkutheroes.com

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:41:31 PDT

With it's tens of millions of active users and innumerable communities and Open Social applications, it can sometimes be tough to stay on top of everything that's happening on orkut. While we do our best to keep you posted via the official orkut blog, there are lots of other great resources out there dedicated to exactly that purpose.

Today we'd like to highlight orkutheroes.com, a site focused on honoring those users who are helping to bring people together on orkut by creating interesting, creative communities and providing useful information to others. Founded and maintained by Zaheer Abbas (known as Zazo), and Tara, orkutheroes.com offers a tremendous amount of content, including interviews, tips and updates about what's new, reviews of blogs maintained by orkut users, and orkut related graphics and posters.

In just a few minutes of browsing the site I've found everything from an article on a Reiki Grand Master who uses her 15 orkut communities to attempt to heal and educate people about her craft to a peek into the lives of four people who use orkut to share memory exercises and math tricks.

If you're ever looking for a quick diversion, take a few moments to see what quirky, surprising and informative new tidbits the orkutheroes team has posted (like this interview of Sameep Kulkarni, a budding 'software sitarist').

Know of another great resource for people looking to learn more about orkut? Stop by the orkut Help Forum and let us know– you might see it appear on the official orkut blog!

Original Source : http://en.blog.orkut.com/2009/10/keep-your-finger-on-pulse-of-orkut-with.html

Ways to get Google Wave (Google Wave Invitation)

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:42:43 PDT

Google Wave is one of the most exciting technology product of this year that is expected to create ripples over the internet. Google Wave is basically a communication tool that allows collaboration in real time to combine the experiences of email, web, chat, blog, wikis and social networking.

Google today announced that they are sending invitation to 1,00,000 early adopters who are interested in the riding the Wave. If you want to be the one among those to have your hands on with Google, here is what you have to do

1. Sign up for Google Wave Account: Send a request to Google Wave team to get invitation by filling this form. Majority of the invitations sent by Google are from this list, so straight away fill the form to get invitation.

2. Ask Google Wave users to Invite you: Google Wave is following GMail style invitation model to allow new users. So if you know any of your friends who have access to Google Wave access, then ask them to invite you.

This is Diwali : Diwali 2009 has arrived!

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:41:31 PDT

It's time to turn on the lights, paint the house with fresh colors, wear new clothes and gather with family and friends to share in the festive cheer. Diwali is one of the largest holidays in India and has a simple and very important meaning: celebrate the victory of good over evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance.

The Diwali fever is upon us, and orkut certainly hasn't been left out of the fun. Communities are doing everything from pushing for a 'pollution free Diwali' to voting on their favorite websites for sending Diwali greetings. Check out the I love Diwali community's active polls on people's favorite things about the holiday (right now, 'crackers' is topping the list with 27% of votes, but it's closely followed by 'holidays', 'new clothes', and 'sweets').

A number of Open Social applications have also popped up to celebrate, like the Diwali Wish app. With it, you can create a wishlist of things you'd like this Diwali and see what your friends are hoping for as well. If you want to send special Diwali greeting cards or scraps, you can also try applications like Kaamana- Greetings for U and Fun Scraps.

If you haven't seen it already, take a look at the special Diwali logo we designed to brighten the festive season...Happy Diwali :-)

Original Source : http://en.blog.orkut.com/2009/10/break-out-fireworks-and-sweets-diwali.html

Google Blog Updates (Gmail, G Docs, G Mobile & Webmasters)

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:14:38 PDT

Google Docs previews in Gmail

Posted: 15 Oct 2009 01:28 PM PDT by: Steven Saviano, Software Engineer

Starting today, you can preview Google documents, spreadsheets, or presentations right in your Gmail inbox by enabling a new Gmail Labs feature, Google Docs previews.

For more information on Google Docs previews in Gmail, check out the post on the Gmail blog (http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-in-labs-google-docs-previews.html ).

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Managing your reputation through search results

Posted: 15 Oct 2009 03:05 PM PDT

(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)

A few years ago I couldn't wait to get married. Because I was in love, yeah, but more importantly, so that I could take my husband's name and people would stop getting that ridiculous picture from college as a top result when they searched for me on Google.

After a few years of working here, though, I've learned that you don't have to change your name just because it brings up some embarrassing search results. Below are some tips for "reputation management": influencing how you're perceived online, and what information is available relating to you.

For More : http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/10/managing-your-reputation-through-search.html

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You Ask, We Answer. Go Mobile!

Posted: 14 Oct 2009 10:48 PM PDT

This week, as part of our celebration of all things mobile, we posed you this question - what do you want to know? And you told us! After two days, 519 people submitted 133 questions and cast 4,607 votes. We saw some common themes in your questions, so we grouped several together to address some of the most popular topics.

For More : http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2009/10/you-ask-we-answer-go-mobile.html

New in Gmail Labs - So Got the wrong Bob?

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:40:45 PDT

When's the last time you got an email from a stranger asking, "Are you sure you meant to send this to me?" and promptly realized that you didn't? Sometimes these little mistakes are actually quite painful. Hate mail about your boss to your boss? Personal info to some random guy named Bob instead of Bob the HR rep? Doh!

"Got the wrong Bob?" is a new Labs feature aimed at sparing you this kind of embarrassment. Turn it on from the Labs tab under Gmail Settings, and based on the groups of people you email most often, Gmail will try to identify when you've accidentally included the wrong person — before it's too late.

If you normally email Bob Smith together with Tim and Angela, but this time you added Bob Jones instead, we'll warn you that it might be a mistake. Note that this only works if you're emailing more than two people at once.

While we were at it, we also changed the name of "Suggest more recipients" to "Don't forget Bob" — the two related Labs features just kind of went together better this way.

If you want to test "Got the wrong Bob?" out, try faking a mistake like this:
1) Think of three people you often email together.
2) Compose a message to two of them.
3) Start typing the third member of the group (for help you can use one of the people we suggest in "Don't forget Bob"), but then auto-complete on the wrong name.

If you have suggestions please let us know. And if "Got the wrong Bob?" happens to save you from making a really bad mistake, we want to hear about that too.

Original Source :
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-in-labs-got-wrong-bob.html
(Posted by Ari Leichtberg, Software Engineer and Yossi Matias, Head of Israel Engineering Center)

Related Links :
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-in-labs-suggest-more-recipients.html
http://groups.google.com/group/gmail-labs-help-wrong-bob/topics?pli=1

Blog Action Day 2009

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:53:05 PDT

This is Robin Beck here from Blog Action Day central, and I want to thank Rick and the Blogger team for helping support Blog Action Day 2009.

For those of you who don’t know, Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15th where bloggers across the world unite to write about a single issue on a single day. We like to think of it as one big blogfest for good, and our goal is to spark conversation on an issue of importance across the web.

This year’s topic is climate change, and we’ve thus far had more than 4,000 bloggers from 123 countries register, including many of the world’s largest blogs.

Our aim is to make Blog Action Day 2009 the largest social change event on the web as a demonstration of global concern about the climate crisis. To achieve this, we want to invite the entire Blogger community to get involved and commit to writing a single post about climate change on your blog on October 15th.

You can register your blog here.

In addition to joining thousands of other bloggers, you’ll also be supporting the work of the dozens of leading nonprofits who are also participating – including Oxfam, 350.org, The Nature Conservancy, Greenpeace, The United Nations Foundation, and more than forty organizations affiliated with the TckTckTck campaign.

You can learn more about the issue of climate change and see sample topics you might write about at www.blogactionday.org. There you can also find additional ways to get involved by taking action with leading nonprofits and posting a snazzy widget to your blog.

Thanks so much for your support – we hope to have you all as part of the event!

Original Link
http://buzz.blogger.com/2009/10/blog-action-day-2009.html

Guest post by Robin Beck, Blog Action Day

Google Blog updates (Including Gmail)

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:14:50 PDT

Shared folders and more in Google Docs

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 01:11 PM PDT

Today, we are happy to announce the updates to the Google Docs docs list that we promised in July. We're rolling out these update gradually, so they should be available to everyone soon. The biggest update is the introduction of shared folders -- far and away the most requested Google Docs feature. Shared folders work how you would expect them to and we hope they will make it easier for teams and groups to collaborate on documents together.

To share a group of items, all you have to do is put them all into a folder and share the folder. As you'd expect, if you add an item to a shared folder, it will automatically be shared and if you add someone to an existing shared folder, they will instantly get access to all of the folder's content.

We've also made it easy to upload multiple items to Google Docs. Instead of picking one file at a time, our new upload page lets you choose multiple files and upload them simultaneously, in just a couple of steps.

First click on "Select files to upload" and use "Shift" or "Ctrl" to pick multiple files. Then press "Start upload". We added progress bars so you'll be able to watch the upload as it progresses.

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Getting Gmail on your phone

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 10:50 AM PDT

Posted by Shyam Seth, Product Manager, Google Mobile

Checking Gmail on your phone isn't reserved for those of us with extra fancy mobile devices — sure, it's easier to use Gmail when your iPhone has a touchscreen or there's a downloadable app built especially for your BlackBerry, but Gmail is available on almost all mobile devices today. If your phone has a data plan, it can get Gmail. There are two main ways to check your messages on the go:

For more information, http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/getting-gmail-on-your-phone.html

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Save the date: Google I/O 2010

We thought we'd let you know that our largest developer conference will be returning to Moscone Center, San Francisco on May 19-20, 2010. Find out more details on the Google Code Blog!
For more information, http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/save-date-google-io-2010.html

Check your mails on your mobile phone!

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:02:49 PDT

Checking Gmail on your phone isn't reserved for those of us with extra fancy mobile devices — sure, it's easier to use Gmail when your iPhone has a touchscreen or there's a downloadable app built especially for your BlackBerry, but Gmail is available on almost all mobile devices today. If your phone has a data plan, it can get Gmail. There are two main ways to check your messages on the go:

(1) Go to gmail.com in your mobile browser
The easiest way to check Gmail from your phone is to go to gmail.com in your device's mobile browser. That opens a version of Gmail built especially for small screens, where you can see messages grouped into conversations, search through your mail, or flag important messages with stars. On some devices (iPhone and Android), Gmail offers some additional features like the ability to add and remove labels and basic offline support. Text the link to your phone to get started.

(2) Use your phone's built in email application
Many mobile devices come with native mail applications pre-installed. Setting up Gmail to work with them is usually pretty straight-forward and there is often a wizard to help. If you have an iPhone or Windows Mobile device, you can get push Gmail using Google Sync. Otherwise, you can set things up using IMAP with these step-by-step directions for specific devices. Depending on your particular phone, you may notice features such as search, conversations, and stars missing. On the plus side, these applications tend to start up quickly and work even when you're not connected to the internet.

For more information, check out this new beginner's guide.

Original Source :
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/getting-gmail-on-your-phone.html (Posted by Shyam Seth, Product Manager, Google Mobile)

Related Links :
http://www.google.com/mobile/products/mail.html#p=apple
http://www.google.com/mobile/products/mail.html#p=blackberry
http://www.google.com/mobile/gomobile/#mail&utm_campaign=gomobile&utm_source=gmailhpp&utm_medium=en_us&dc=gomobile
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/push-gmail-for-iphone-and-windows.html
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=75726
http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=163672

About automatic sign-in for AdSense!

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:24:09 PDT

In the past, if you were already signed in to your Google Account, we'd automatically give you access to your AdSense account without needing to sign in again. Due to a recent fix for an issue, this automatic sign-in feature was temporarily disabled. However, we're working on a permanent solution that will resolve the original issue and also allow this automatic sign-in process to work correctly.

In the meantime, if you're already signed in to your Google Account, simply click on the "Take me to my account" link. (If you click on the link and aren't signed in, you'll see another sign-in page.)

Why am I being asked to migrate to a Google Account? I already did this.

We want to point out that some publishers have been experiencing an issue with getting stuck in a Google Account "migration loop." This occurs when the original AdSense email address and password match their existing Google Account email address and password. In other words, if you signed up for AdSense before we asked everyone to update to Google Accounts, and then you later created a Google Account with the same email address and password (and haven't changed the password since), then unfortunately you're encountering a bug in our Google Accounts migration code. This is something that we're working to fix.

Fortunately, there's an immediate solution to this issue. If you're stuck in this Google Account migration loop, simply visit https://www.google.com/accounts, sign in, and then change your Google Account password to something different than what you're currently using. In addition to being a good password management practice, you'll eliminate the migration loop with this change.

Return to AdSense home.

Google's PowerMeter to boost energy efficiency

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 06:07:11 PDT

Los Angeles: Google is partnering with privately held firm Energy, to provide households with free energy management software called PowerMeter, which will boost energy efficiency, the company said on its blog.

Google had launched PowerMeter, which is a web tool, in February to let consumers monitor how much electricity they use at home. But in order to use PowerMeter consumers needed a smart meter installed. Many customers have already tested and used this application. Now, consumers can buy Energy's power-usage measuring device called TED 5000 which costs around $200, and use Google's software on top of it, without ever needing a smart meter.

Even though many companies are now trying to propagate smart meters they still account for a small percentage of all U.S. electricity meters. Technology giants like Google and IBM are shifting into the world of building a smart grid, envisioning a more efficient electricity grid that uses more renewable energy and powers up 'smart' appliances.

Google's partnership with Energy does not include any financial terms. Google is already working with Sempra Energy's San Diego Gas and Electric and Germany's Yello Strom. Google is also trying to develop clean technology. Some of its projects include ways to write software to connect plug-in hybrid vehicles to the power grid and a mirror technology that could reduce the cost of building solar thermal plants by more than a quarter.

Source : http://www.siliconindia.com/

Gmail is now more secured :New Update From Gmail Blog : Choosing a smart password

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:40:45 PDT

As part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, we'd like to take this opportunity to remind you about smart password practices. Help ensure you're protecting your computer, website, and personal information by checking out our security series on the Google blog or visiting http://www.staysafeonline.org.

Phishing, a topic that's been in the news, is unfortunately a common way for hackers to trick you into sharing personal information like your account password. If you suspect you've been a victim of a phishing attack, we recommend you immediately change your password, update the security question and secondary address on your account, and make sure you're using a modern browser with anti-phishing protection turned on. Keep an eye out for the phishing warning Gmail adds to suspicious messages, and be sure to review these tips on how to avoid getting hooked.

Creating a new password is often one of the first recommendations you hear when trouble occurs. Even a great password can't keep you from being scammed, but setting one that's memorable for you and that's hard for others to guess is a smart security practice since weak passwords can be easily guessed. Below are a few common problems we've seen in the past and suggestions for making your passwords stronger.

Problem 1: Re-using passwords across websites
With a constantly growing list of services that require a password (email, online banking, social networking, and shopping websites — just to name a few), it's no wonder that many people simply use the same password across a variety of accounts. This is risky: if someone figures out your password for one service, that person could potentially gain access to your private email, address information, and even your money.

Solution 1: Use unique passwords
It's a good idea to use unique passwords for your accounts, expecially important accounts like email and online banking. When you create a password for a site, you might think of a phrase you associate with the site and use an abbreviation or variation of that phrase as your password — just don't use the actual words of the site. If it's a long phrase, you can take the first letter of each word. To make this word or phrase more secure, try making some letters uppercase, and swap out some letters with numbers or symbols. As an example, the phrase for your banking website could be "How much money do I have?" and the password could be "#m$d1H4ve?" (Note: since we're using them here, please don't adopt any of the example passwords in this post for yourself.)

Problem 2: Using common passwords or words found in the dictionary
Common passwords include simple words or phrases like "password" or "letmein," keyboard patterns such as "qwerty" or "qazwsx," or sequential patterns such as "abcd1234." Using a simple password or any word you can find in the dictionary makes it easier for a would-be hijacker to gain access to your personal information.

Solution 2: Use a password with a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols
There are only 26^8 possible permutations for an 8-character password that uses just lowercase letters, while there are 94^8 possible permutations for an 8-character password that uses a combination of mixed-case letters, numbers, and symbols. That's over 6 quadrillion more possible variations for a mixed password, which makes it that much harder for anyone to guess or crack.

Problem 3: Using passwords based on personal data
We all share information about ourselves with our friends and coworkers. The names of your spouse, children, or pets aren't usually all that secret, so it doesn't make sense to use them as your passwords. You should also stay away from birth dates, phone numbers, or addresses.

Solution 3: Create a password that's hard for others to guess
Choose a combination of letters, numbers, or symbols to create a unique password that's unrelated to your personal information. Or, select a random word or phrase, and insert letters and numbers into the beginning, middle, and end to make it extra difficult to guess (such as "sPo0kyh@ll0w3En").

Problem 4: Writing down your password and storing it in an unsecured place
Some of us have enough online accounts that we may need to write our passwords down somewhere, at least until we've learned them well.

Solution 4: Keep your password reminders in a secret place that isn't easily visible
Don't leave notes with your passwords to various sites on your computer or desk. People who walk by can easily steal this information and use it to compromise your account. Also, if you decide to save your passwords in a file on your computer, create a unique name for the file so people don't know what's inside. Avoid naming the file "my passwords" or something else obvious.

Problem 5: Recalling your password
When choosing smart passwords like these, it can often be more difficult to remember your password when you try to sign in to a site you haven't visited in a while. To get around this problem, many websites will offer you the option to either send a password-reset link to your email address or answer a security question.

Solution 5: Make sure your password recovery options are up-to-date and secure
You should always make sure you have an up-to-date email address on file for each account you have, so that if you need to send a password reset email it goes to the right place.

Many websites will ask you to choose a question to verify your identity if you ever forget your password. If you're able to create your own question, try to come up with a question that has an answer only you would know. The answer shouldn't be something that someone can guess by scanning information you've posted online in social networking profiles, blogs, and other places.

If you're asked to choose a question from a list of options, such as the city where you were born, you should be aware that these questions are likely to be less secure. Try to find a way to make your answer unique — you can do this by using some of the tips above, or by creating a convention where you always add a symbol after the 2nd character in the answer (e.g. in@dianapolis) — so that even if someone guesses the answer, they won't know how to enter it properly.

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Original Source :
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/choosing-smart-password.html

Related Links :
How to avoid getting hooked : http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-avoid-getting-hooked.html
National Cyber Security Awareness Month : http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/celebrating-national-cyber-security.html
What we've learned about spam : http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/what-weve-learned-about-spam.html
What to do if you can't access your webmail : http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-to-do-if-you-cant-access-your.html
Celebrating National Cyber Security Awareness Month 2009 : http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/celebrating-national-cyber-security.html

Google Teaming up with Adobe and the Open Screen Project

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 03:50:25 PDT

At Google, we've been working closely with the folks at Adobe for years. Some of our most exciting projects such as YouTube, Android, Google Site Search, Google Chrome and even Google web search require close integration with Adobe's technologies. Our engineering teams regularly exchange ideas, tips and bugs as we build upon each others' efforts.

Along these lines, we're excited to be joining Adobe's Open Screen Project, an initiative established a year and a half ago to help developers more easily design content for the web across multiple screens using the Flash Platform. We've always believed that open platforms lead to greater innovation on the web and we see participating in the Open Screen Project as another step in that direction. We're excited to continue working with the teams at Adobe on pushing the web forward and to see where the next generation of web development will take us.

Source :
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/teaming-up-with-adobe-and-open-screen.html

Related Links :
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/adobe-users-get-help-with-google-site.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/google-learns-to-crawl-flash.html
http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200910/100509AFPforMobileDevicesandPCs.html

Google Sidewiki | Overview

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:40:15 PDT

Google Sidewiki is a browser sidebar that lets you contribute and read information alongside any web page.

Expert insights on important issues

Helpful tips as you browse

Background information for more history

Added perspective on new technology

More examples

Lonely Planet travel editor Robert Reid adding to Bryant Park in NYC.
Blogger and mindfulness teacher Soren Gordhamer add resources to a meditation reference site.
John Maeda, President of RISD, adding to Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.
Michael Roizen, Cleveland Clinic physician, adding to CDC website about flu shot myths.
Meditation teacher Shaila Catherine gives advice on a National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine page.
Lonely Planet journalist Tom Hall recommends the Scottish Football museum.
ProPublica General Manager Richard Tofel gives context by quoting ProPublica author Christopher Favelle on an article they featured.

Twitter

Follow Google SideWiki at @googlesidewiki

Get Google Sidewiki

Read also :
Help and learn from others as you browse the web: Google Sidewiki - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/help-and-learn-from-others-as-you.html
For Blogger : http://buzz.blogger.com/2009/10/post-to-blogger-with-google-sidewiki.html

So now you can post to blogger with SideWiki

umarfaruk.it@gmail.com (umarfaruk.it@gmail.com) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:55:45 PDT

Last week, Google Sidewiki launched to the world as an entirely new way to share information across the web. This new Google Toolbar feature allows you contribute your own insight to any webpage, as well as read information shared by others right in your browser's sidebar.

Google Sidewiki uses a special relevancy algorithm to display the most helpful entries first, and also has the built-in technology to display your entries on other sites which contain the same snippet of text. For a more in-depth look at how it all works, as well as full overview of all the features that Google Sidewiki has to offer, the team put together a very helpful page which you can check out here.

One feature in particular did catch our attention here on the Blogger team, and that is the ability to post your Google Sidewiki entires directly to your blog. You can watch a quick video tutorial of how it all works below:

So if you haven't already, download the Google Toolbar and give Sidewiki a try. As you come up with new ideas, submit them on the Sidewiki product ideas page!

Original Source : http://buzz.blogger.com/2009/10/post-to-blogger-with-google-sidewiki.html

< Google Made /> :

The Making of the Sudoku Gadget | Google Wave

The Complete Guide to Google Wave | www.completewaveguide.com

Table of Contents

Login With Google Friend Connect [Now Powering Discuz!]

Google Friend Connect, now more personalized :-)

New From Gmail Blog | Choose which messages get downloaded for offline use

Holiday Logos and Events – Google style! 2009 [October - November]

When to use Google Wave? Few examples to get you thinking

Fun, new features, faster browsing, the same great friends [new version of orkut]

New Post From Blogger Buzz : New Transparent Navbar Styles on Your Blogs :-)

Gmail is now more Secured : Tips from GMail

This is New From Gmail on iPhone and Android

New Update From ORKUT Blog : Keep your finger on the pulse of orkut with www.orkutheroes.com

Ways to get Google Wave (Google Wave Invitation)

This is Diwali : Diwali 2009 has arrived!

Google Blog Updates (Gmail, G Docs, G Mobile & Webmasters)

New in Gmail Labs - So Got the wrong Bob?

Blog Action Day 2009

Google Blog updates (Including Gmail)

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Save the date: Google I/O 2010

Check your mails on your mobile phone!

About automatic sign-in for AdSense!

Why am I being asked to migrate to a Google Account? I already did this.

Google's PowerMeter to boost energy efficiency

Gmail is now more secured :New Update From Gmail Blog : Choosing a smart password

Google Teaming up with Adobe and the Open Screen Project

Google Sidewiki | Overview

More examples

Twitter

So now you can post to blogger with SideWiki