Tag: Google

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News

Terrorists used Google Earth during Mumbai attacks?

google earth logo It is too scary to know that some free web services can help the terrorists and anti social elements to create havoc around the world. Recently, I came across an article in PcWorld which revealed, according to investigations terrorists used Google Earth to get familiar with streets of Mumbai and learn the roads around them during recent Mumbai attacks. Everyone knows, with growing technologies there must be some disadvantages too, but such a heavy loss to the national heritage and resources can ever be compensated by these technologies that make our life easier? It is really a big question..

The article also said that, in the year 2005 our ex-president Mr. Abdul Kalam warned people about how Google earth can be misused. Further the article goes as follows:

Indian security agencies have complained that Google Earth exposed Indian defense and other sensitive installations. Other nations, including China, have made similar complaints regarding military locations.

Don’t know what exactly Indian government is going to do after such a heavy loss of life and resources of the country. But I am sure that these scary situations will bring some problems for the launch of India based satellite mapping service – “ISRO Bhuvan“.

Source: PCWorld

Categories
Tips

Gmail now on your desktop!

gmail-logo1 Every alternative days Google is coming out with cool new features in its network of services, may it be Orkut, Gmail, Google Calendar or Google search. Truly speaking I don’t have any words left to thank Google for all their efforts towards improving its service. As such I am directly coming to the point. 😉 It is not more than a few hours that Google announced the launch of its all new gadget for Google desktop – Gmail gadget.

I personally tried my hands on this new gadget, and I have simply one word to say – "Awesome"!!..  As this is start, I don’t have any complaints about it. But one bad this is that, as of now, Gmail gadget is available only for windows users and mac or Linux users cannot use it. 🙁 Windows users if you have Google desktop installed, just download the Gmail gadget from here, else you will need to download and install Google desktop first.

gmail gadget

So, like me, if you too check your mails frequently, then I would say you to download this cool gadget without waiting any more. 🙂

Links: Official release | Gmail gadget | Google Desktop

Categories
Tips

Some improvements in Google SMS channels

Google SMS channels logo Recently launched in labs, Google’s group messaging service – Google SMS Channels had many bugs and disadvantages as compared to other group SMS providers like SMSGupShup, Mytoday, Vakow, etc.. After getting a lot of comments and advice by its users, Google considered making some changes and improvements on their service, and I have listed some of ’em here:

  • The most disgusting & buggy thing in Google’s SMS channel was that, if you were new it, you had to send ‘ACCEPT’ message in addition to channel joining message. This problem is now being solved. Infact, its a good news for channel owners ‘cos your subscriber need not bother about sending 2 individual messages now. 🙂
  • When your friend accepts your invitation to join private channels, you will be notified about it via SMS.
  • Bug of unable to search for the channels created & subscribed by you has been fixed too.
  • Bug of unable to view too old posts has also been sorted out.
  • Channel owners can now customize whether their viewers will receive only headlines or full body contents. (Refer screenshot below).
  • More good channels added into "Editors pick" section.

SMS channels

Though these improvements are appreciated and are too good, still there are more options needed in Google’s SMS channels. Some of my personal advice to them are listed here:

  • As Mytoday provides for its mob users, an option to schedule messages and grant publishing rights to different people to publish new posts would really be great.
  • In addition to 10 digit mobile number, there’s a need for a short code like 567678, 575757, etc. By this, the channel owner can create a good impression about his/her channel.
  • Better user interface to send customized SMS to a channel. Integrating Google SMS channels with Gtalk would be a great option.
  • As advised by many other users, a private channel owner atleast should have the option to view his group subscribers.

These are the only points I pointed out. If you readers too have any suggestion for them then comment form is here for you. 🙂
May be some one from Google will drop in here and read out our suggestions. 😉

Links: Google SMS channels | More on SMS channels

Thanks Abhi for the tip. 🙂

Categories
News

Is Gmail security moved to labs?

gmail Google has a tendency of launching new services with ‘labs’ tag on it which are unreliable and incomplete and may have some loopholes, bugs and security flaws. So, there would be a big question mark onto whether the Gmail security too moving towards labs? If you remember, earlier this month we mentioned how MakeUseOf domain was hacked and the doubt behind the whole hacking, though not sure about it, was due to some flaws in Gmail. But recently, MakeUseOf website confirmed that, there are surely flaws in Gmail itself, as a result many more domains get stolen. According to them, this month alone, atleast 3-4 domains were hacked and all were some how related with Gmail. Before this post in MakeUseOf.com, Blogoscoped mentioned how malicious filters could be set on your Gmail account to forward a set of mails to another id. Also, Bradon at Geekcondition explains how it is possible. According to him, by directing you to some external links one can force you to create filters in your inbox, importantly without your knowledge.

But a recent post in Google security blog, claims that there are no such flaws in Gmail rather those are just a case of phising activity. The targeted users are directed towards an external link to hack their login information and no filters  can be set by them. To prevent you from any such menace Google has put an advisory on their blog, also they say:

To keep your Google account secure online, we recommend you only ever enter your Gmail sign-in credentials to web addresses starting with https://www.google.com/accounts, and never click-through any warnings your browser may raise about certificates.

But still there is a big question as to whether the statement by MakeUseOf and Bradon is correct or the one given by Google is correct. What do you think..? Is Gmail security moved to labs??

Categories
Tips

Google SMS: Power of Google Search on Mobile!

SMS team at Google has come up with Google SMS Search. Now you can send all your queries to 9-77-33-00000 without paying any premium charges! SMS Search offers an easy-to-use way to type in free-form searches. No longer will your questions require complicated prefixes or a tight syntax. You can learn about the interesting features and try our interactive demo at http://www.google.co.in/sms.

For details go to the Google Mobile website or check their help center for more details.

The Google blog says that you only need to pay the standard SMS text charges for sending the SMS query to Google – there’s no fee for the incoming messages from Google. The service is available for all popular cellular networks including Airtel, BSNL, Idea, Reliance, Spice, Tata Indicom and Vodafone.

This service is available across all operators on both GSM and CDMA mobile phones. Give it a try by SMSing “help” to 9-77-33-00000 and don’t forget to save the number of your newly found friend (Google SMS) in your phone book!

Google SMS can be used for Live Cricket Scores, Railways PNR Status, Train schedule, Stock Quotes, Horoscopes, News, Movies, Flight status, Translation, Currency Conversion, etc.

Link: Google SMS for India

[Editor Note:This is first post by Vishal Gaikar on Devils Workshop. He blogs at Orkutting Tricks about Orkut related tips and tricks.

If you like to write for Devils Workshop, please check this. Details about our revenue sharing programs are here.]

Categories
News

Google Talk Officially Integrated with Orkut [Part 2]

Just had a glimpse of one of the most awaited feature on Orkut, THE Google Talk Integration! It looks like I am the last one to see it on my orkut account! 😉

After many Greasemonkey scripts, orkut apps and other hacks, nothing seems to beat this official integration.

More than 2 years ago, we posted about this much needed integration. But after a bold move from rival Facebook to offer chat feature, this was quite expected from Orkut.

Integration looks nice but with some open questions…

  • Whether Orkut will show list of online Orkut friends like Facebook? List of Orkut friends can differ from list of Google Talk friends.
  • In any case, list of online friends is good option. I could not see it anywhere. May be I failed to notice it.
  • I am not sure if all Orkut users can use this feature. It looks like one need to be user of Google Talk separately to enjoy this feature.
  • It is not clear whether you can chat with online Orkut friends from your existing Google Talk clients.

orkut - Google Talk settings-1Orkut added a separate Google Talk settings page, but it contains just one option – Choose which friends can chat with you.

Lets hope like many other features this feature will be improved with time.

To read more about this feature, read this earlier post by Deepak.

Categories
Tips

Upload and share photos using your Gmail space!

Gphotospace You can now fully utilize your Gmail inbox space by storing your photos using the free space in your Gmail account. You need not run anymore searching for free photo sharing sites. With the help of Gphotospace plugin for firefox you can now easily upload and share photos, and the best part is that, it upload photos 5X speedier than that of flickr or any other photo sharing site.

<

p align=”justify”>Installation:
To start using Gphotospace, you just need to visit this page and install the supported plugin. After that go to
Tools-> Gphotospace and enter your Gmail Id and password.

Key features of this plugin:

ADVERTISEMENT
  • Its completely free, as you just need to install the plugin and use the free space available on your Gmail inbox.
  • As mentioned above, the plugin uploads photos too fast. As per official sources its upload speed is 5X faster than that of Flickr.
  • You can avail upto GBs of free space depending on the free space left on your Gmail account.
  • You can upload photos, and mail them to your friends right from the plugin window.
  • And the best part is that, unlike other photo sharing services, its space will be increasing daily 🙂

Note: Share your Gmail login info with Gphotospace at your own risk.

Links: Gphotospace | Plugin Download

(Via 84Prodcutions)

Categories
Reviews

Let me Google that for you!!

 <p><a href="http://www.letmegooglethatforyou.com"><img class="wp-image-54265" style="border-top-width: 0px;border-left-width: 0px;border-bottom-width: 0px;border-right-width: 0px" height="104" alt="letmegoogle" src="https://devilsworkshop.rsites.dev6.rt.gw/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2008/11/letmegoogle.png" width="425" border="0" /></a> </p>       <p align="justify">Are you a geek among your friends? Pissed off by your buddies' questions? You google the queries on behalf of your friends?? Here's a solution for you - <a href="http://www.letmegooglethatforyou.com/">letmegooglethatforyou.com</a>.</p>    <p align="justify">The 'about' section of the <a href="http://www.letmegooglethatforyou.com/">website</a> says:</p>    <blockquote>     <p align="justify"><strong>This is for all those people that find it more convenient to bother you with their question rather than google it for themselves.</strong></p>   </blockquote>    <p align="justify">So this is a cool idea and would surely be productive and helpful for geeks who are buzzed every now and then, by their noob friends, even for a simple and silly solution. Do I need to say anything else about it? Or you want me to google about 'letmegooglethatforyou.com' for you? :P</p>    <p align="justify">Links: <a href="http://www.letmegooglethatforyou.com/">Letmegooglethatforyou</a></p>
Categories
News

Google rolls out Gmail Themes!

Guess what? This morning when I logged into Gmail, I was surprised to see a message on my home page asking me to change the look and feel of my mail inbox. As of now, with many blogs talking about themes in Gmail, the official release date was in air. Infact, a couple of hours ago, Gmail has announced the launch of its all new feature – "Gmail Themes". You too can make use of this new feature simply by entering into the ‘Theme’ tab in ‘settings’ area. But, as customary, Google have started rolling out this feature phase wise, and this feature is not yet available for all users. So, if your settings page does not have themes tab, than all I can say is check back later, it will surely get updated. 🙂

Well, unlike other blogger, I was lucky to personally try my hands on this brand new feature 🙂 And I was completely speechless on my first glance on the color customization options of my inbox. For those whom this feature is not yet available here’s a quick look on it.

gmail-themes1

As pointed out on the image above, you can set your current location so that the themes related to weather can change according to your local weather. 🙂

gmail_themes

Also, Gmail have slightly modified the default theme, here’s a look of it as well-

gmail-theme uplift

I’ve not yet experimented a lot on themes, as of now I would say the ‘desk’ theme is pretty cool which revamps your inbox just like a notepad. Here is a screen shot of it

gmail-desk theme

Let me end this post here so that I can check out the remaining themes as well.
Before leaving all I can say is "Thumbs up" to Google. 🙂

Categories
Reviews

Google Chrome Plugin: PageRank, Alexa Rank checker

This time I have a good news for Chrome users. Most of my friends preferred Firefox than Chrome just because it does not support installation of plugins and addons as Firefox does. But this time it is not so, if you are a big fan of Google’s Chrome and you too dislike it because of no support to install plugins, then I will say it a ‘myth’ .. Now you can install plugins in Chrome too. 🙂

Recently ChromeFans.org worked out on a Java script called "PageRank Status Checker" for Chrome users wherein you can check the PageRank and Alexa Rank of any page without having to leave the page.

Chromeplugin

The best part of this script is that, it will work similar to a Firefox plugin and to check the status of a given page, all you need is a single click, and the Google PageRank and Alexa Rank would pop up as shown on the image above. The complete step by step installation guide is here. The installation does not takes more than a couple of seconds, so I would advice you to go ahead and give it a try 🙂

Links: Installation Guide | ChromeFans