I am not much into ranking game but I do check ranking of this blog across few rank-systems mostly for advertisers of this blog. Alexa, without a doubt is a major factor considered by many advertiser.
Surrendering to the buzzaboutchangesinAlexa’ ranking algorithms, I opened Alexa traffic details page for Devils Workshop. And I shocked positively to see our rank 65,928! I refreshed the page 2-3 times but it was not changed. Last time I remember it was around 129,000. That mean rise of 60000+ position overnight! 😉
Talking about its implications, all it did is make me feel good! It neither rise my traffic, nor my earnings. Yeah I can possibly think about increasing advertising price on this blog now, as I said earlier, Alexa is something advertisers count on!
One change I personally like, as quoted by Duncan Riley,
Alexa’s decision to drop exclusive reliance on the Alexa toolbar for traffic data, with Alexa now aggregating data from “multiple sources” to compile its statistics and web rankings. As part of the move, historical data from Alexa is no longer available, with data now only going back 9 months (we presume calculated using the new methodology).
Its really nice decision as I always felt in past site popular among IE & Firefox user ranked highly because of Alexa toolbar.
Long time back we reviewed meebo and other web-based messengers. All of them had one common problem – no support for Internet Relay Chat (IRC). Although many users prefer graphical and simple to use messengers like Google Talk, Yahoo, MSN, AIM, etc, IRC is still something many geeks can’t live without. But thanks to mibbit, now IRC is no more geeks territory.
Features…
Its free and registration is optional.
Tabbed conversation windows will give you feel of desktop clients.
Search feature to find IRC channels using keywords. Have database of 150,000+ channels across 49 IRC networks.
Works behind proxy. I tested it behind corporate firewall but being a plain online service it worked like a charm! 🙂
Built-in support for translation. You can translate your messages to another language or read others message in your language.
Pastebin support. If you are a programmer then you know how often we go to pastebin to share codes. Now you can do it right from mibbit.
Chat widget which you can add on your website (live example below…)
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Registered User get additional options…
My channel option – To save a list of favorite channels which can be automatically joined on logon.
Preferences – set colors, fonts, configure alerts, etc.
Logs – All conversations can be saved. This feature will be available soon.
I personally use IRC channels when working on wordpress plugins and firefox add-ons. But I always had some problems on windows machine. I don’t like to pay for mIRC and xchat (windows version). Also chatzilla failed to impress me as it doesn’t work behind firewalls in offices & colleges.
So I guess mibbit is best for windows, specially when you want to waste your office time! 😉
Two days back, I have posted about orkut’s low bandwidth version. I concluded that post saying, Orkut could have done better by creating a dedicated mobile version like m.orkut.com….
Now thanks to Darnell, for taking pain to actually check m.orkut.com and so discovering the mobile orkut. 🙂
You can really access orkut from mobile now by going to m.orkut.com. No need to use our old days methods anymore.
The mobile orkut is centered around individuals. It supports profiles, scrapbooks, search, friend-lists, birthday reminders, friends updates, pending friend requests, etc.
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Group features, those related to communities are completely omitted. Also you can not edit your profile from mobile.
You can still access communities on mobile to by switching to www.orkut.com, i.e. web-version. Of course, it will be slower.
The only thins surprised me is silent launch by Google. I am still confused if Orkut blog is just meant for reviewing OpenSocial Apps for orkut. In past also they did not bother to post about prominent features they launched or upgraded.
Long time back, I used to check m.orkut.com in hope for mobile orkut, but after wasting enough time, I created custom javascript bookmarks to do orkutting. That post still hold the honor of most commented post at Devils Workshop. Its little pain seeing it retire now. But as Shakespeare said, All’s Well That Ends Well.
Orkut silently launched a low-bandwidth version. Many forum sites have a lo-fi version for dial-up users. But orkut took different path and rather than giving a separate subdomain with complete redesign, a small setting is added to General Settings.
Click on show the low bandwidth version of orkut option.
Hit save changes button at the bottom. (not shown in screenshot)
Selecting show the low bandwidth version of orkut option switches your account to low bandwidth version where images in scrapbook, profile pages and users orkut homepage are disabled. Considering users spend more time on these pages this is good.
Still if you like to see communities, friendlist and other areas of orkut or any site without images, you can use imgLikeOpera, a firefox plugin, which turn on/off image loading just by clicking on a small icon in browsers status-bar. (Read more…)
Orkut could have done this better by creating a dedicated mobile version like m.orkut.com or wap.mobile.com. Although you can use Orkut from mobile, official support is always a delight. Moreover being light weight, it could have been used as a low bandwidth version itself!
If you are a firefox user then you may surprise to read this post. Unlike firefox where single menu option Tools >> Clear Private Data clears everything, in Internet Explorer 6.0 the situation is worse than one can possibly imagine.
Of course, a firefox user will never go back to Internet Explorer but thanks to bad web-site design of BSNL, I was forced to use IE to pay my cellphone bills.
Anyway here are steps to log out safely from Internet Explorer…
First, go to Tools >> Internet Options
On General Tab, clean cookies, cache & history by clicking on Delete Cookies, Delete Files & Delete history button.
Also after clicking on Delete Files, you will see a pop-up box like below. DONT forget to check "Delete all offline content" option.
Many users know about this part but your password and important form details may be with IE. So next step is very important!
Go to Content Tab, and click on AutoComplete Option.
A new AutoComplete Setting windows will open like below. Click on Clear Forms & Clear Password buttons.
Thats All! I know sounds like hell lot of work but let me give you glimpse of what the worst could happen if you forget any of the steps above.
Delete Cookies – Not so severe if you used only top sites like orkut, Gmail, etc. But still can prove dangerous. Person sitting on your computer may get direct access to your account. Usually cookies are cleared automatically when you click on log out links at the sites.
Delete Files – Anyone using your computer can check files you were accessed online. Most important are your personal photos which can be viewed from cache even after you log out using log out links on sites.
Delete History – Other can check which site you have accessed. If you dad is a geek, this could prove dangerous to you! 😉
Clear Forms – Any information you enter like address, name, etc remains in browser. Most important are bank account numbers.
Clear Passwords – Normally password don’t get stored automatically but its always better to count on knowledge than luck!
In fact, last two options which are so deep inside are reason for most account getting hacked via IE. If you forget them then anyone can use small program like pspv to hack passwords and personal details.
Its always best to use a browser like firefox and avoid login to password protected site from public commuters!
From last few days, I was seeing Google Adsense ads on Orkut users homepage.
Following screenshot highlights ad in lower-right corner which is taken from my friend Vijay’s account…
There are few things to note about these ads which shows Orkut is still not serious about making money out of it!
First they are mix of image as well as text ads. Other Google services show only text ads. Text ads work better and took less time to load.
Its mentioned clearly that they are "Advertisement". In other Google services they put "Sponsored Links" around ads. Sponsored Links could bring more clicks compare to Advertisement caption!
Long time back orkut started showing ads in community pages but now they moved to user homepage directly. Still scrapbook are left clean which is most accessible area of orkut as per orkut trends.
Looks like orkut is still experimenting with these ads, as they are not shown everytime homepage loads. In fact, I haven’t seen any ad on my orkut homepage! It may be because of adblock plus addon, but a fellow blogger Pavan confirmed presence of ads via email around a week ago.
Personally I don’t think these ads are annoying at all. What do you think?
We all love free services! But there is a problem with free services – Ads.
While for a service provider it becomes necessary to run ads in order to keep service free some do it so badly that user gets irritate. Some banners and flash ads just take forever to download on dial-up connection and for broadband users, waste precious bandwidth in their limited plan.
But if you are a firefox user then you can get rid of all ads on Internet, thanks to firefox’s adblock plus add-ons!
Most firefox users are aware of Adblock Plus (ABP) – most popular firefox addon! But to get most out of it, it must be used with Filtersets.
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Filtersets make it easy for Adblock Plus to block ads on the new sites. There are many filtersets available for different set of sites. For English language sites, EasyList + EasyElement are best. I just started using it after reading Ares comment. I earlier used Filterset.G Updater which is officially not recommended by Adblock Plus developers as mentioned here.
So just install these Adblock with your favorite filtersets and you will never see any ad again! Thanks Ares for very helpful comment… 🙂
In past we have written about varioushacks to download videos from YouTube, Metacafe and other video sharing sites. After receiving good response to all of them, I have decided to compile a complete list of alternatives for every possible ways and here is the outcome.
We have tested more than 60 alternatives. To limit our testing efforts, we eliminated all candidates who offers trial/paid service or forces to register user. Next of course ease of use and support for multiple video sharing site has been considered. Enough chit-chat, enjoy the list… 🙂
The list is organized across different categories like web based, desktop version , etc.
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Web Based
1.KeepVid – It supports almost all popular sites like YouTube, Metacafe, etc. Have bookmarklet option to download videos in one-click. You have to rename downloaded file to add .flv extension. You can use VLC media player to play flv files. Read More…
2.Flashload – Replica of Keepvid, but also available in Deutsche language. Supports 50 video sites. Maintains list of last 20 videos downloaded on homepage.
3.videodownloadx – Same like keepvid but have option to convert video online into 12 different formats. They ask for email address in conversion option. In case you have concern about it try next..
4.vixy.net – Supports less number of site than keepvid and less number of conversion formats than videodownloadx but simplest to use. Also they don’t ask for your email address. Read More…
5.Media Converter – Supports many video sites. Conversion options gives nice compression ratio. It have too many options and wizards. Good for advance users, bad if your looking for quickie. Converter is also available for download as windows only version.
6.Zamzar – It also feature reach like Media Convertor but instead of giving their convertor away they offers online tool where you can upload existing flv videos for conversion. Good for Linux & Mac users as they don’t have desktop software to do the same.
7.kcoolonline – List of 211 video site they supports is eye-catcher. They do have a convertor but no bookmarklet option.
8.TubeG – Supports search and download from YouTube. Flagged video is available for download. Have bookmarklet as well as many interesting section to browse.
9.ilikeyoutube – Ability to search and download videos using top tags. As name suggest its only for YouTube.
10.YouTubia – YouTube only. Offers keyword based as well as user name based search option.
There are literally hundred of sites providing similar services, thanks to cost-effective web hosts like Dreamhost. Still if we missed any deserving site please let us know.
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Firefox Add-ons
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11.Video Download Helper – It is second most popular firefox addon with 234,815+ downloads. It supports adult sites. They also have dedicated tutorial section which is curtsey users of this addon only. Do I need to say more about it? 😉
12.Video Ook – Supports less number of site but better customization options. Most important feature – file renaming after video title. Yep, all you tube video get downloaded with file name get_video so this extension is
13.GreaseMonkey Script – Those who love to do it GreaseMonkey way can use this script. Its for YouTube only. It adds a direct download link on all YouTube pages as shown in image. (New To GreaseMonkey?)
14.ByWiFi – You can search, watch & download video from YouTube & Metacafe. Registration is optional but useful to track you usage history across site. It will be great if they add support for more video site. Read More..
Unfortunate I do not have more options for mobile users this time. But I will surely add in future. If you have one, please share it via comments. 🙂
Windows Users
15.Orbit Downloader – Integrates nicely with many video sharing sites. Just hover the mouse on video and a "Grab It" button will pop up immediately! Available in 30+ languages.
16.Vdownloader – It can download and convert videos from many video sharing sites, saving them in AVI or MPG format. Supports few adult sites too!
17.KeepV – It also supports download as well as conversion. Conversion to MP4 format may catch iPod users. You need to manually copy-paste video URLs – Bad integration! Requires Microsoft .NET Framework.
18.Youtube Grabber – Very lightweight, but works for YouTube only as its name suggests!
For windows we got many softwares but most of them were paid. I don’t see any reason to pay for things when there are better alternative in freewares.
Linux Users
19.Youtube-dl – This is a shell script. After installing you can use command like youtube-dl URL to download and play video automatically. Videos played using VLC player.
Again I failed to get any complete software for Linux. So personally I will go for web-based or firefox alternatives. Still if you are addicted to shell you can try the script above.
Mac OS Users
20.GetTube – Only option I found for Mac OS. Only youtube is supported as you might have guessed it. Good thing supports conversion to MP4, MOV and AVI formats.
Additionally script mentioned for Linux users can be used from terminal.
PHP Script
21.Youtube Rippin – Finally if you are a coder and this large list impressed you, you can think of starting a site using this PHP script. Moreover if you have a PHP interpreter on your system, you can run this locally. Details are here…
Thats it! here we reach the end of this is a long list. I tried to cover all possible options but to err is human and if you think any deserving candidate is missing from list, feel free to comment! 🙂
By default Gmail doesn’t allow HTML signature in outgoing emails. Means all tags you put into signature will appear as it is.
There are multiple ways to overcome this problem. Simplest is too have a HTML editor and copying HTML signature into Gmail, thanks to Gmail’s WYSIWYG editor. This method is good for one or two mails everyday.
Next you can do this using a Greasemonkey script either. As greasemonkey is for firefox only, other user can still follow method described above.
After installation, script will create a HTML signature box in left sidebar. There you can put as many signature as you want and also set which signature to be used by default (in case of multiple signature).
Also each signature can be assigned a memorable name as shown in screenshot below which appears when you add new or edit existing signatures!
Once done, every time you compose a new email as well as reply to any, your signature will be be appended automatically.
if you are using plain-text signature in Gmail, that will be also added to new mails. You can either use both or remove old signature by going to Settings >> General >> Signature!
This is a very small but useful script for orkut users who get many friend requests everyday!
I created this actually few week ago for orkutfeeds bot to automate approving pending friend requests.
At this point itself I want to make one thing clear that this script is plain and simple enhancement to orkut. Imagine having a new button named approve all. So do not think that this script will let you add anyone on orkut without other users knowledge or anything like that!
This is a GreaseMonkey Script, so you need firefox as well as GreaseMonkey addon to use this. In case you have both then you can go ahead or read this GreaseMonkey guide.
I am not much into ranking game but I do check ranking of this blog across few rank-systems mostly for advertisers of this blog. Alexa, without a doubt is a major factor considered by many advertiser.
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