The search engine giant Google after three fails attempts like first creating Waves with Orkut in India and Brazil only,Second Buzzing in with a fail attempt of Google Wave and Third initiative to create Social Wave in Gmail with BUZZ has finally come up a good enough simple product Google+.Google presenting it as an answer to the Social media market giant Facebook and may be its one last try to become Social Media giant from a search engine giant.
As Google has temporally suspended the invitation process due to ‘insane’ demand,I am feeling alone in Google+ and thought about writing this post and letting you all know about the features of Google+ as long as you are not getting the Google+.
Here are the few features you will have in Google+:
Google+ Circles: Circles are like Twitter List or Facebook friend-list.But it’s far easier to use than Twitter List or Friend list of Facebook.It’s attractive and clean drag and drop feature to select people and drop in Circles makes it easier to deal with.Circles in a way helps you to share your updates according to the people you want to share and also helps you to filter you timeline i.e Stream.While updating your status you can select the Circle with which you want to share your Status updates/photos/videos or you make the Status Update public through which all the circles can see your updates
Stream+Sparks
Google + Stream: Google+ having a Facebook like Timeline,good thing about Stream is you can filter your Stream in accordance with the Circles you have created.By selecting one particular circle you would only see updates from the users belonging to that particular circle only.By selecting the Incoming section you will get to updates from group of people not belonging to any circles.
Google+ Sparks:Now a days we mainly consider Twitter from social media as a big source of news.Well Google has done a great job to let you track your interests from Google+,you can search,select and add your interests here to get the recommended links here.
After adding your interests later you click on the sparks and it will redirect to a page which will exclusively feed you news and links according to what you have selected.
Google+ Profile: Your Google+ profile is nothing but your old Google profile with linked profiles and with a new feature +1.Well they say +1 is the new like button.The +1 section shows the links which you recommend by clicking the +1 button during your browsing.Now most of the sites,blogs have started incorporating the +1 button.+1 button also comes up during Google search.Your Picasa albums also can be shared in your Google+ profile.
Google+ Profile navigation bar
Google+ Hangout: It’s specially a Google+ web oriented killer feature.You can start a hangout and can have a group video chat with 10 people at one go.For this you just need to download the plugin for Video chat.
instant upload
Google+ huddle and Instant uploads: These two features are mainly mobile application oriented.Through huddle you can chat with a group of people or with individual people on the go.Google will send you push notifications to your mobile when you will receive text in huddle.
Google+ mobile application is available in Android market.Instant Upload in mobile application uploads photos/videos you take with your phone to a private album on Google+, where it’s easy for you to share them later from your phone or the web.There is a section in photos tab of web version to select photos from your phone.
Google+ Tagging: You can tag your friends in status updates or in comment section by putting + sign then the name the person you want to tag.
Here are few features of Google+ which Facebook needs to incorporate:
1.There are no 420 letters limit in Google+ like Facebook.You can write as much as you want to write.
2.For the typo masters like me there is a option Edit this post.To correct your typos after posting your update you can edit the post and make the required corrections.You don’t need to delete the post to make changes.
Edit this Post
3.In Google+ you have the power to approve/disapprove photo tags when somebody tags you in photos,this is the much needed feature which is missing in Facebook.You can also select default circles/people whose tags would be automatically approved.
Photo Tagging
Few things I personally miss in Google+ is custom URLs for user profile like we have for our Twitter/Facebook accounts,Google apps are not integrated to Google+.Apart from these Google+ so far looks so good but yes its too early to comment and judge the future of Google+.Do leave your comments about Google+ here.
Here are the few fine tunes I would like to see in Social sites.
1.First of all my recent fav foursquare,Well we do CHECKIN in foursquare.But I would also like to have CHECKOUT option in foursquare.So that we can keep track when a person is checking out from that particular place.
2.Few modification in Twitter:new style RT like in TweetDeck,they are integrating the new style RT in the mention column likewise if Twitter scrap the “Your Tweets,Retweeted” section from Retweet and integrate to @mention section then can easily keep track of the RTs that we are getting(by only checking the mention section).
3.As Twitter incorporated the new style RT button to web,it would be better if they also include the old style RT button to the web.Because for me most of the time I use old style RT.
4.Few things we don’t have as an Indian User:
a)In US foursquare mayors get special discount in the respective restaurants.Yet to come in India.
b)Geo Tagging still not available for Indian Twitter web users.
c)Local trending topic still not available for India(Available for countries like: Brazil,Canada,Ireland,Mexico,UK,US)
5.Do you know one good example of one way travel? Its facebook text service in recent times.Facebook text delivering the notifications alright in mobile but we are not allowed to post through text.Its a very important service for me because may I am not having GPRS all the time.
6.Well for Orkut,As I seldom visit Okrut,so apart from Scrap notifications in mail I would like to have facebook type of notifications in Orkut so that I don’t have to miss anything.As we simply can’t ignore orkut totally as most of our friends are in Orkut.
Do you have any other Wishes then please share with me in the comments.Would love to read your opinions.
Thanks.
Yesterday I got this all new Buzz in my Gmail.
You can follow me in buzz: http://www.google.com/profiles/aritra.slg
This is the third product from Google in a row after New Orkut and Google Wave.Recently Google also integrated real time Twitter updates in its search engine.So after Twitter integration,Google wave and now with Buzz you can say that Google trying hard to get into this real time business.
So what is this Buzz is all about?
- Its a real time section which is integrated into you Gmail and it is mainly to share your status updates also your favorite links,images,videos with your friends.
- Connected sites: Shared contents from Google Reader,Twitter updates,Image sharing sites like:Picasa and Flickr,Updates from your Blogger and You Tube accounts.
- Following:Comes with same Twitter concept like you get the updates from people whom you are following.But here Buzz comes with auto following and also suggests you users to follow.
- Private and Public sharing: You can share contents with either everybody or with your few selected friends i.e a group.You can create several Groups in your Google contacts.I prefer private settings for my Picasa and flickr accounts.
- Comments and Like:You can comment under status updates and also can like any status update by pressing the like button.
- @Reply or Tagging: Another concept from Twitter like you want to mention or tag any user or multiple users in status update area or in the comment section area.Just put @ then start typing the name you would get a drop down for the list of users.
Mention users in status updates or in comment section
- Inbox integration:Buzz just does not want you to miss any comments that is why it will give you notifications in form of mails in your Gmail inbox itself.I would have liked a different section for this notifications because cleaning up inbox every now and then is not my favorite work.
- Mobile Support: iPhone users and Android users can access Buzz in their in their mobile handsets through Buzz.Google.com.Still no other handset supports Buzz.This is where buzz lacks.The main reason for Twitter’s popularity was that at first Twitter targeted mobile users and it also allows you to update status through SMS which is still not available in Buzz.You can also post Geo tag enabled Buzz from Google Maps.
My verdict is that I like Buzz because I love sharing my status update,Links etc and Buzz looks to be a great sharing platform for us.
So do you like Buzz,Would you use it more regularly?Share your views in comments and do share with us which feature you like the most or what are the features you want to see in Buzz?
Thanks.
Previously I wrote How to share in Orkut and recently I was thinking how to share my Google reader contents with my Twitter Followers as I love sharing with my friends what I know.Most of us use Google reader for feed reader.There may be so many ways you can share you reader contents in Twitter,But I got this Reader2Tweet technique which is a quite simple one so I am sharing this technique with you.
1.Open this Reader2Tweet page.
2.Sign in with your Twitter account(Oauth Authentication)
3.Then they will ask you for your Google Reader Number Id.Now how to get it?click the shared items button in reader.Then check your browser address bar,from there you can get the Id-as shown below.
Reader Id(discard %2F)
Or you can get the Id in sharing setting in shared items.
4.You can also set the shared items format in your Tweets,now submit and share your reader contents in Twitter.Now when you wouldl share contents with your followers in reader(by pressing the share button)also a tweet would be sent to your Twitter account.
If you know better way than this then do share with us in comment section.
Thanks.
Well let me tell you first that this blog post is just because of my facebook status update and all the credit goes to Nishant and I am just sharing with you.This post is dedicated to the lazy people like me and Nishant 
Picasa is an awesome software from Google to manage pictures in your system and also to edit them.Facebook is the most popular social network to connect and share everything with your friends and Flickr as they say “Flickr is almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world”
Well if you are lazy like me you can upload the photos from Picasa to facebook and in flickr.For this you need go through few steps:
1.Acess Picasa in your system if you don’t have Picasa then download Picasa here.
2.Scan your system with Picasa for images.
3.In Picasa download and install facebook plugin and flickr plugin.
4.After installation you will get facebook and flickr button in Picasa
Showing Buttons in Picasa
5.Now select the photos and and press facebook/flickre buttons to upload.First they would ask you to login and the to select album or create new album.
Twitterholic tweeps check this flickr2twitter so that you upload photos to flickr from Picasa and it would redirect to your Twitter profile.
What is disappointing is that though Orkut is from Google there are no plugins to upload photos in your orkut profile from Picasa.You can upload photos in orkut scraps the photos which you have uploaded in your Picasa web profile.
Thanks.
I think most of us aware of this phenomenon.when we leave the Google search box blank the press the I’m Feeling Lucky button then a decreasing counter comes up.If you have not tried it try it now then come back to read my post.Actually it shows how many seconds we are away from the next year.
Yes it is 2009 review of my life.Its a year with with so many happenings.I think I am back to so many things.
Starting of the year was not good because dad was not fit.He was suffering with lumbar spondalysis and that time he could hardly walk for 2 or 3 mints.He had gone through a operation in December-08 but which was not successful.Then we decided to visit Chennai apollo hospital there he had gone through a successful operation and Thankfully he is fine now.But that Chennai visit was a great learning curve for me because there was only me and my mom was there.Mom was always with dad in hospital to take care of him and I had to do take all the other responsibilities.That was the first time I took a mighty family responsibility and which went well for me and my family.
Then I came to my college the forth and final year.I missed out lots of classes and also was lagging behind with the project work.Actually in forth i was hardly in college first was with dad in Kolkata and then in Chennai.As all to be Engineers do,some how I managed with the project works and last semister.After that I finally became a graduate in this year.
Oh I forgot,meanwhile In march 28th I opened a Twitter account.That Twitter was a total crap for me and I was freaking out Orkut.From August I started doing Twitter seriously.Gradually I realized what a platform of sharing and source of knowledge is Twitter. Not only Twitter is a great source of news/knowledge for me and its also a source of Great friends.I really got some amazing friends in Twitter and I really mean it.This blog is the perfect is the perfect example; this blog is a product of the helps I got from my Twitter friends. Yes I don’t want to mention names, just which I don’t feel good and also don’t like mentioning names. I think they are reading this post now. These friends are one of the best thing happened to me in 2009.I hope in future they will be in touch with me.
Speaking about the Good, Old friends they are with me and will be with me. Distance with few friends is getting big but I still remember their contributions. Yes it is the case that I wanted the distance back in last year. These small things helped me a lot. For my happiness now I only depends upon few close persons and who are with me.
2009 is the year of getting good friends, getting into Twitter and Blogging, becoming more independent, happy, matured, getting back into old Aritra, enjoying life at its pick and also waiting because I am waiting for my joining probably which I would get soon in next year.
Wishing you all that 2010 would be a flourishing year for you all….Happy New Year.
Thanks.
Well my favorite Twitter/Facebook desktop application is TweetDeck.To me this is the best desktop application mainly for Twitter because of its simple interface and also it is faster than any other desktop Twitter applications.The version 0.32.1 comes with so many extra features like its integrated the new retweet feature,LinkedIn account etc.You can also add your other accounts as shown below.
Actually when I recommendTweetdeck to my friends they ask why it is so slow so this post this post is just for them and mainly who are using slow internet connection.You can easily make TweetDeck fast with some manipulation in settings.Here are few techniques:-
1.Always try to login in Tweetdeck with less columns like I login with two columns-Twitter home timeline and Twitter mentions after loading these columns I add other columns like Twitter list,facebook columns etc.This technique assures faster login into TweetDeck.
Adding Columns after login
2.Hide the previously loaded updates/direct messages this also assures faster login after restart.
Settings
3.If you enable the use auto-complete for user names you don’t have to remember the user handles.When you will press @ then the search list for users will come out.
Autocomplete Username
4.For faster loading at the start you need minimize the max no of updates per API call and in a column as your requirements.
5.Before logout or closing the application press the mark all as seen button.
Mark all as seen button
6.When you will paste a huge link in update area it would be shortened automatically.You can also share pictures just by uploading the pictures with drag and drop in the updates status area.
I hope this would help you.Please add your suggestions and your doubts in comments.
Thanks.
Twitter Recently added the retweet button to the most the tweeps profile.I got it also and yesterday I have given my feedback to Twitter.This retweet project from Twitter is all about making the RT thing official from there side.In this feature you got two new things in your profile a retweet button and retweet section just below the favorites section.When you will click this retweet section u will get three sections-Retweets by others,Retweets by you and Your tweets retweeted.The good thing is that you will get to see who many tweets have retweeted a tweet.
Another thing is that they ask you before you are retweeting a tweet.To me its just a extra step.
My feedback was upon three points:
1.It is so disappointing that we can’t edit the original tweet.We can’t even add our own comment to that tweet.
2.Retweets done from the official site does not appear in the other Twitter applications like Tweetdeck,Seesmic,Snaptu etc.So if you are using this applications you wont be able to see retweets coming from the site.
3.To me its a bit hectic to check the retweet section.Previously RT’s which I got,used to appear in my @aritrasen which was a simpler thing to me.
I hope that we will get to see some manipulations in this retweet project to make it perfect.
Thanks.
Sorry to disappoint you first, after reading this you will not have a place where you can go and celebrate events. I will blog about a virtual place where you can always stay, enjoy and celebrate any event like we did in children’s day.I am talking about Twitter. On 14th of this month we Tweeps celebrated the Children’s Day by changing our DP i.e our profile’s Display picture to our sweet cute little kid picture. My timeline of Twitter was filled with all cerelac baby tweeps . It was a great feeling. It was like going back to your childhood with the help of ‘TwitterTimeMachine’.
The Day Sachin scored 175 against I was traveling in train that time the only thing I was having to know about the Score and match updates was my Twitter timeline. I know it’s not better than watching the match live on TV but trust me it was better than any TV commentators commentary or going through any other live cricket score site. Because of all those tweets #Sachin or #SachinIsGod became the no-3 trending topic in Twitter.To me It was a great tribute from all Sachin’s fan. To my knowledge there is no other celebrity or Indian person even came close to reach trending topics. Another instance which is coming to my mind is our Independence Day that day my timeline was flooded with all India tweets and India was in the top 10 trending topics.
Twitter is one gem of a place to celebrate and share along with your followers. When I am in this place I never feel lonely or lack of friends. Thanks to Twitter I came to know so many beautiful people through Twitter….Twitter you beauty.
Thanks.
created by Bastab Chakraborty
Siliguri my birth place.Siliguri-‘The Gateway of North East India’ because of its geostrategic importance as it connects three borders-Bangladesh, China, and Nepal.Now Siliguri has achieved the position of second largest city in the West Bengal with a population of 1,22,0275 (according to 2001 census) Going further ahead Siliguri is now considered as one of the fastest growing city in the country.
On 14th October Siliguri hosted the 3rd Tweetup in West Bengal.There was two Tweetup in Kolkata before this-1st-21st July: MCD, Parkstreet .2nd-27th October: Madox on nabomi.
For my friends who don’t know what Tweetup is?Its a meet up for the Twitter users(Tweeps) from a same geographic location to discuss stuffs and to have a hangout
Our place of Tweetup was Cosmos,CCD.Me and Bastab(@bassyc) were planning to organize a tweetup in Siliguri and that came true with six tweeps attending the tweetup.Siliguri with not a huge amount of Twitterholic people we are so happy with the outcome.I know one day will come when Siliguri people will be more in twitter and Tweetups will be a frequent thing so we Tweeps were proud of the fact that we were present in the 1st#Siliguritweetup.In Tweetup we discussed stuffs like Blogging, GoogleWave, Silverlight, individual twitter experience and for new Tweeps out there-few Twitter tips and what you can extract from Twitter.That day we came to each other very well and was a great hangout.The first product of that Tweetup is DENKEN-my all new blog and I would like to thank Bastab for this.We considered that as a successful Tweetup as Tweeps enjoyed a lot.
#siliguri tweeps
My non Twitterholic friends always wonder-why am i keep banging on them to become a regular Twitter user(friends I am not working in twitter that is only for your sake).I always want spread it because you can get each and everything from Twitter.Hoping that 2nd #Siliguritweetup will be a massive success with a good number of Tweeps.
tweeps attended the tweetup: @bassyc(Bastab Chakraborty) @samrat_slg(Samrat Sarkar) @soumyadiprocks (Soumyadip Ghosh) @seriousjoker111 (Abhimanyu Mazumdar) @suman sengupta87 (Suman Sengupta) and @aritrasen
Thanks.
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