Google retiring AdSense Referrals

The Very popular AdSense Referrals is retiring . Shocked ??

Google Today announced that it will retire Referral service from Adsense , by the last week of August .

According to a post published on  official Adsense Blog : "Inside Adsense" , the DoubleClick Performics Affiliate Network will now operate as the Google Affiliate Network for advertisers targeting users located in the United States. Similar to the AdSense Referrals program, the Google Affiliate Network enables publishers to apply for advertiser programs and get paid based on advertiser-defined actions instead of clicks or impressions."

 

[ Read More at Inside Adsense ]

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FireFox3 : Not in Hindi , but in Gujarati and Punjabi

A surprise ! FireFox 3 is not available in Hindi : the official language of India . Hindi is also most widely spoken language in the country !

This may be OK as it is difficult to deal with Indic Fonts . But , do you know that FF3 is avail in Gujarati and Punjabi languages .

Gujarati and Punjabi are regional languages of India and a very small fraction of population of India ( and world ) use them . But , FF3 is avail in these languages and not in the Hindi !

 

[ Check the entire list of supported languages ]

 

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3 Orkuteers visit Google India Office at Bangalore

Recently , Google India invited 3 orkuteers (Orkut Users) to visit Google campus . On June 6 ( don't blame me for publishing this too late , as this news was published on 24th June @ Official Blog of Orkut ), three of Indian superusers from throughout India were there , where they told what they loved about orkut and shared suggestions for improvement .

 

I don't know how they select these persons , but it is a great job ! ( see updates below )

 

Congrates to the 3 Lucky ones : Rakesh, Prashant and Gaurav !!!

 

• Read More @ Official Orkut Blog

 

[ UPDATE : Prashant has send reply to my question that how Orkut select them . See the post on Official Blog of Orkut By him . thanks Prashant ! ]

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Use Weave for backup your Firefox settings

As Google is dropping its Browser Sync Firefox addon , you can try an alternative : Weave .

Weave is also a Firefox add-on and a Mozilla Lab Project .

It allow you to backup your Firefox settings such as your bookmarks, history, passwords, customizations and preferences and then sync them with the Mozilla servers so that you can access them from anywhere that allows you to access the Internet.

 

[ Get Weave ]

 

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Export Your FeedDemon RSS Feeds to Google Reader

If you are using more than one RSS Reader ( like me ) , and want to read your all feeds in All readers then this is quite useful for you .

I use three RSS Readers - FeedDemon ( Default Desktop Reader ) , Google Reader ( This makes me enable to access my feeds from anywhere , while Online ) and Opera@USB ( Hence , I can carry my updated feeds with USB Drive and can read them from any Computer or Laptop with no Internet connection ) .

Now major problems comes that , how to manage the feed-item with these 3 readers . I use EXPORT / IMPORT options of RSS Readers .

Here is how you can export your items from FeedDemon to GoogleReader . You can follow the same way for other readers .

• Select "Export Subscription" option from file menu .

Now , select those feeds or folders , which you like to export and choose the option of OPML . OPML is a file format used for exporting and importing RSS feeds . Hence , a OPML file will be saved to your hard disk .

• Now , log-in to GoogleReader . Select the option to manage subscriptions .

• Now select Import/Export tab to import your feeds here .

• Here Import your OPML file from computer , and you are done .

You can follow this process to update your feed-list in different RSS Readers .

Some other cool utilization of OPML file are :

• Hence , You can have a back-up of all your feeds .
• You can gift this file to your friends in order to share your favorite feeds !!

Liked ?

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Get your FireFox 3 download certificate

Downloaded FireFox 3 ?

Now get the certificate for it !!!





Yes ! You can get your certificate of downloading FireFox 3 . Just Go Here !



As , the world is busy in downloading the FireFox 3 , we , The Indians , are just sleeping .

That is why , there is just 7K+ download from India , till 4:20 AM ( IST )on 18 June .




Wake up India , and download it to support the world record mission of FireFox 3 !

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Links :

• Get The Certificate of Downloading the FireFox 3
  

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Gspace-store your files online with Gmail

As FireFox3 is releasing today , everyone on the Internet seems to be bitten by FireFox3 bug .

For the last two hours , I am surfing around the FireFox sites . I have installed many Add-ons and some new Themes .

I Just got a very useful Add-on Gspace , which can store your files online , in your Gmail account .


As , you know that Gmail offers a lot of space ( Currently , 6.67 GB ) and this space is increasing day by day . You can check your memory usage status here .

Gspace simply transfers your files to Your Gmail account . Hence, you have a nice online back-up all your data and you don't need USB pendrives to carry your important files . You can access these files from anywhere on the Earth , using an Internet Connection !!



Moreover , Gspace is a FireFox Add-on , so you need FireFox to use it .


Whenever , you transfer any file to your Gmail a/c using Gspace , it sends it as an attachment of an e-mail.




You can manage these e-mails by creating filters / Labels ( to Archive or Star them)

A similar service Gmail Drive is also there , which can even viewed and managed from "My Computer" and works as a stand-alone application ( Not a FireFox Add-on ) . But , I think that It doesn't work anymore ( as, I couldnot transfer any file and it shows that Gmail don't support it now !!! )

• Get Gspace

• More On FireFox

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Guide to FireFox 3

Mozilla has just released RC 3 for FireFox 3 and going to release FireFox 3 on 17th June .
Well , a very important fact about RC3 is that , Firefox 3 RC3 for both Windows and Linux are the same as Firefox 3 RC2 ; only Mac OS X users need to make the upgrade.


Moreover , Google's offline-enabling browser plug-in, now simply called "Gears" has been updated to 0.3 with full support for Firefox 3. ( Thanks CyberNet ! )

Now , Want to Master FireFox 3 ?? Deb Richardson has written a very Powerful Guide for FireFox 3 . Learn it from Her Blog here .


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Post to your Blogger Blog directly from iGoogle

I  use iGoogle , as it is a nice starting page . If you also use it , then a very happy news for you .

Now , you can post new entries to your Blogger blog directly from your iGoogle page and can have a confirmation report also !

To enable this service , you need to add a new gadget to your iGoogle page . This gadget is avail here :

 

Just click on the above button and it will be done . Note that , for this you must have a blog supported by Blogger .

After adding the gadget to your iGoogle page you will see the gadget as -

 

 

If you own multiple blogs on Blogger , you can select the desired blog .

This tool seems to be a nice integration , but it has to go far . As there are many shortcomings with this service . The Blogger posting gadget will only work in iGoogle, not in other gadget containers, because it requires authenticating with your Google.com cookie.

Further , Blogger In Draft reports that it may not work properly with Safari and Internet Explorer .

 

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Related Posts :

• Blogging can cure cancer
• Lalu turned Blogger
• New Favicon of Google
• GTalk Chatback Badge and Yahoo! Presence

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Recommended Communities in Orkut

Orkut has recently added a new feature for its users , Recommended Communities !

 

 

Orkut will display up to three recommended forums for users, and if one desires to see more they can click the "view all" link to view the entire list. If the communities recommended to you are not relevant, boring, lewd or down right irritating, users can simply ignore future suggestions from that forum.

 

You can try this , by visiting the Community page of your Orkut account .

 

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Related Posts

• Your Comments on Orkut can land you in Jail
• Orkut.co.in
• OrkutFeeds.com : Best Orkut Solution

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Two Cool Ways to Download YouTube Videos

All of us are being just addicted to those video sharing sites . YouTube is favorite of most of us .

For personal collection , it is common to download videos from YouTube . Hence , we can watch them offline too .

But , downloading these videos from YouTube ( and other video-sharing sites ) may seem hard to you . Most of us use different downloading technics , like copying and pasting URL of video into certain service providers like : http://www.downloadyoutubevideos.com/ .

I have two very cool ways to download videos , without any copy-&-paste . Try these !

 

• Use Real Player : Download the latest version of Real Player ( Click here ) and install it . Now Open a new Browser page , using file menu ( see screen shot ) .

 

 

Hence , you will have a browser window . This web browser is similar to other browsers like FireFox etc.

Open YouTube ( or any other site which has video ) .

 

 

Use this browser to move to your favorite videos . As , you move mouse over the video , You will see option to download .

 

 

Just hit the button and download will start ! You don't need to save the file as .flv as in other cases . RealPlayer will automatically manage everything . Moreover , you can manage your all downloaded videos into player's Media Library !

Is it not cool !

 

• If you don't want to download and use RealPlayer and use only YouTube ( and not the other video-sharing site ) then there is also a cool alternative for you . It is KissYouTube.com !

To use it , just add "kiss" before the youtube in the address bar of your browser and everything will happen itself . You don't need to copy or paste anything !

 

 

 

 

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New Favicon of Google

I watched a very surprising thing on the firefox's tab-bar today - A new Favicon of Google .

Here is the New FavIcon of Google .





The Old one is also here :


Check them by opening Google.com or see it here .

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Send Free SMS in India

If you love sending SMS to friends , but expense is a worry for you ( specially to Outstation / STD SMS ) , here is very cool and reliable option for you .


Opt for MyCantos.com .

MyCantos is an online service to send SMS anywhere in India , for FREE ! You need to just register yourself with MyCantos and verify your mobile number . Once you verified your number you can start sending SMS for free .

After sign-up MyCantos will send you a code , which is required to enter in verification box on the site . Hence, you can easily verify your number .

MyCantos is quite different from other free SMS services on Internet , as :

• It sends your Mobile Number with the SMS

• It doesn't restrict you from sending any fix number of SMSs to any particular number ( against the RediffBol ) .

• It has a management tool for managing all Sent and Received messages . ( Inbox / Outbox)
  

• It offers a URL for your profile ( see mine : http://mycantos.com/arpitnext ) .

  
  

• You can invite your friends and hence can manage friend list . So , sending messages regularly will be simple .

• You can Upload pictures and create an online album. You may also be able to embed videos and upload your own personal videos that describe you uniquely.

• You can send maximum 118 characters @ a time .

One more thing !

You can Add MyContos Free SMS Service into your Orkut Apps !! Hence , it becomes more social .

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Related Posts :

• Orkut.co.in
  
• OrkutFeeds.com : Best Orkut Solution

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Your Password protected Word and Excel files are no more Protected

Most of you when working with confidential document or spread sheet , simply choose the option to save it with password protection . To do so ( In MS Word 2003 ) , you use File > Save > Tools > Security Option and then choose a password to protect your file from unauthorized access . Hence you can hide your data from being spread , specially when using a shared computer in offices .

But do you know that your file can be viewed without any password cracking ! Yes !!

The way is very simple and one don’t need any hacking skill . Just Installation of “Google Desktop” ( Read1 Read2 ) can do a crack . To know this just open the Preferences setting page of Google Desktop . There are setting options for Indexing Password protected documents ( see screenshots ) .


Just check the check-box for opting Indexing password-protected office documents . And , now Google Desktop will index all the password protected documents . Also , it will create cached and preview option , just like a normal file . And , anyone can view your file by searching any keyword present in document or even the name of the file .


Google desktop will also keep cached versions of those files ( Read more ) , so your data will be avail on computer even if you delete the file from computer .

To avoid such theft , ensure that above option is off .

Take care while using Google Desktop .

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Use Google Desktop as Back-up tool

Here is a very cool option for having an Automatic back-up of all your files on computer !

Are you using Google Desktop ?? Use it .
I have already written about this great tool provided by Google ( Read Here ) .

Suppose you have deleted any file misfortunately , And now you need it !
Ok ! Just search the file’s name using Google Desktop ! You will find it here !


When you click on the file name … you will be sent to the cached version of the file . And , here is your file !! You can also see various previous cache versions !
You can also click on the “Preview” link to see just text only version of that file too . ( see screenshots ) .

One thing more , to have this option you must deselect the option to Remove deleted files from search results , else no deleted item will be shown in results !!

This feature can be used for files stored on USB drives , hence you can have those files even if USB drive is removed from computer .

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Google Alerts : best tool from Google

I passed my last night in a discussion with one of my friend about Google and its services . Our prime issue was to find out the best service or tool offered by Google . No doubt the Google's search engine was at the top in the list . But , we were determined to explore other services .
We considered Gmail , GTalk , Blogger ..... and so but found that these services have alternatives ( and sometimes a Better ) . Our discussion ended with the result that the "Google Alerts" is the best , most powerful and unique service offered by Google . Yet , option for "cached version" is also powerful and unique .

By "Google Alerts" one can get an instant email notification whenever something happens to any matter or topic . for example , if want to know the latest happenings of a topic say : "Free Antivirus" , you need to do just onething - Create a Google Alert !!! All the updates related to "Free Antivirus" from blogs, web, Google groups as well as Google News will come to your Inbox , as soon as they are tracked by Google . You can also choose the sources ( Blogs , News , Videos etc ) .
Hence , you can have updates of all your favorite keywords and topics easily . If you are a Ego-surfer then Google Alerts can be a boon for you . Just enter "link:mysite.com" or "site:mysite.com" or simply your domain name !

Another , very cool idea may be getting all these updates vai RSS and hence you can read them in your RSS reader . But , I couldnot find anything like that with Google Alerts !! But , the alternative is there !!

Here is that : Search the Keyword on Google.com Using Advanced Search Option and select “past 24 hours” (or suitable gap) in the date field. This will filter all web pages from Google search results that were indexed more than 24 hours ago. Now , Copy the Google URL from the address bar of browser and paste that into the input box at Page2RSS.com . Page2RSS.com is very useful site which will create an RSS feed of your search results (or any other webpage ) that you can subscribe via email or in any news reader just like feeds of Blogs !! Now , whenever you like to Search New Items related to that Keyword just check the feed-updates in your blog reader !! But , I am not very sure about the reliability of Page2RSS .

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Posted On : TechRaga ( http://Blog.ArpitNext.com )

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GTalk Chatback Badge and Yahoo! Presence

I got a number of e-mails from readers about their experience and story with Yahoo! GeoCities ( Read my post here ) . Many of them remember Geocities as their first homepage . Many readers have written about other service providers , which were popular in the past ( Like : tripod ) .

A reader has recalled many more options provided with Geocities . Of these , I would like to quote a very interactive tool : the Yahoo! Presence . Yahoo! presence is an option which shows your Online status on ANY webpage which contains its source code . It use Yahoo! Messenger's log-in status . Hence , any visitor of that webpage can view if you are online and can chat with you using Yahoo! Messenger just by clicking the link with the Yahoo! presence .

As , Yahoo! presence can be used for any web-page so you are not bound to use it with just Geocities Hosted pages ( As , that reader has written ) .

Now a hot tip . If you are using GTalk and want to add such interactive tool to your site or blog , you can have a similar option . Google Talk provides "Google Talk Chatback Badge" . You can simply add it in the same manner to your webpage and can chat with your visitors live . Onething more , It really doesn’t matter whether your readers have a Google Talk account or not - they can talk to you through the web page as long as you are signed into your GTalk account. For Yahoo! presence a visitor needs Yahoo! ID and Yahoo! Messenger .

Another such option is C-Box , which acts as forum on your web-page .

Here are Yahoo! Presence and GTalk ChatBack badge examples ( associated to My IDs ) .

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GooglePageCreator and YahooGeocities

Hi Guys !
Before launch of Google Page Creator and other similar services , Yahoo! Geocities was my favorite host . I was very happy with Geocities Services , as they are very simple and even a class 5th student can have his webpage . But , I shifted to GooglePages as , it offers a subdomain ( yourname.GooglePages.com ) while , Geocities is offering just a directory ( Geocities.com/yourname ) .

In Geocities days , it was very tough for me to tell every one that my site URL is geocities.com/arpitwww . Most of them were confused with Geocities.com as my site ! As , a directory was just unknown to non-techies those days . Well , surely GooglePages has cleared their doubts . ( Moreover , now I have moved to my own domain name , ArpitNext.com )

GooglePageCreator offers better options and tools than Geocities . But , I missed the following things badly :


The FileManager : The FileManager Option in the Geocities is very cool and easy ! It is just the normal Window folder tree and one can easily create , edit and manage the files and sub-directories . Copying and Renaming are also possible , GooglePages have no such option . You can't create a directory or subdirectory with GooglePages .

PageBuilder : It is WYSIWYG ( what you see is what you get ) editor of Geocities , which is easy to use and you can create your webpages without any knowledge of HTML . Just Drag and drop contents , create hyperlinks , format text , Insert pictures and various effects . The WYSIWYG editor of GooglePages is not very cool . It is somewhat like MS Word and is not as convenient as Geocities .
HTML Editor : Geocities offer a HTML editor where you can code your entire page with HTML tags . You can add Title and all other valid tags . GooglePages offers HTML editing as an option in WYSIWYG editor .
GooglePageCreator offer very cool add-ones while Geocities offers very common add-ones .GuestBook option is not there with GooglePages but you can have that from other providers . Another a negative point with Geocities is the unwanted advertisements appearing with your webpages and you will not have a share in the revenue from these .

If you don't have a webpage and want to have one you may choose any of above . There are many other options too ! GooglePageCreator has a very strong point that you can have a subdomain as web-address ( yourname.GooglePages.com ) while Geocities will give you just a branch . Both services are easy and no technical knowledge is required . Yet , I will recommend GooglePages .

Another alternative for having a online home is to Blog . but , surely with a website you can present things in a different way . If you love to spend some bucks , Buy your own domain name ( i.e. ; yourname.com ) and then use Google Apps . Google Apps provides webpage builder and mail for your own domain ( you@yourdomain.com ) . You can add several such accounts . Most attractive thing of these e-mail accounts is that they use Gmail technology . Hence , you will use Gmail services with own e-mail address at your domain name .



You can use it as your google account and hence can enjoy all Google services with this . A domain name may cost you around $10 per year or even lesser . You can purchase a domain name directly from Google Apps or from any other provider . Hence , you can have a full working website with e-mail , docs and other services ( even for your friends or employees too ) just for a small amount of $10 only . Let's thanks Google for this service .
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I am a fool !

Finally , Google made everyone fool . Virgle , the announcement of a Google - Virgin co-op was just a April Fool Prank . :[

Ok !!

I couldn’t believe this announcement , but I had no option except to believe it as it was on Google's Official blog . So , I just posted about it on my blog too giving a link to the original post on Google's official blog ( which was By Sir Branson , God knows is it true ? ) .

But , misfortunately I was among the fools !!

Now , I have decided to not search the web and update my feedreader on 1st April of every year !!

I apologize to my readers !!

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Virgle

on 1st April , a post on Google's Official blog By Sir Richard Branson ( founder of Virgin Group ) surprised me a lot . This was regarding the annousement of Virgle : the joint venture of Virgin and Google .

This may seem as a usual tie-up of two groups , but it is not just that . It is very far behind it .








Sir Branson describes the project Virgle as ,

"Virgle's goal is simple: the establishment of a permanent human settlement on Mars. Larry Page, Sergey Brin and I feel strongly that contemporary technology is sufficiently advanced to make such an effort both successful and economical, and that it's high time that humanity moved beyond Earth and began our great, long journey to explore the stars and establish our first lasting foothold on another world."

It shows that the eyes of Google & Virgin are on future .

Read the post of Sir Branson Here : http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/announcing-project-virgle.html

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