Another Orkut Toolbar (For Firefox And IE)

I guess this makes three Orkut toolbars available (the previous ones mentioned here and here).

What makes this one distinct from previous versions is that it has a built in chat client inside of the toolbar (which is fun for the first five minuets--until you realize you are the only one on).



It also comes with a radio player, which may help pass the time while you are on Orkut.

You can dowload this new Orkut Toolbar over here. Firefox users may have some difficulty installing this toolbar, but you should be able to get this program up and running (simply follow the instructions on the site).

Arrested For Fake Orkut Profile?

It was not for creating the profile, but rather what was on the profile itself.

Save yourself n save others has a photo from the Mumbai Mirror, although a search on their site does not pull up the story.

However, a quick Google search was able to reveal the full story online.

(Moneycontrol India) Youth misuses classmate's profile, posts lewd scraps

He is caught following the girl's complaint

A Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) student of Thane was arrested on Thursday for creating a classmate's profile and uploading her picture with offensive messages on an online community site without her permission.

The cyber cell of the Thane police got into the act following a complaint by a girl that someone had created her profile on Orkut.com with her picture and posted lewd messages. Within 48 hours the culprit was nabbed.

The police seemed to have a difficult time locating the culprit as the Orkut server was located in Sweden (really?) Thanks to Yahoo!, they were able to track down the culprit's yahoo address and via IP locate his exact location within India.

Moral of the story: Don't harass girls on Orkut, and don't use Yahoo! if you do (although Google may report you as well).

Update: Fixed some grammer issues.

Search Within Forum Posts (Thanks Vijay!)

Vijay has come out with a new GreaseMonkey hack enabling users to search within Orkut forums!

This searcher tries to search for a specific text in a community topic, by traversing through the various posts in the page. If the searcher finds the text in any of the posts, it highlights the text in red, wherever it occurs in the page. Else it proceeds to the next page by following the 'Next >' link. If you want to search more after the text is found, just click the 'Next >' link on the top or bottom right. The searcher will automatically start searching the remaining pages, until it find the same text again. Hope you enjoy this script!

You can download the script over here, and if you have any suggestions, problems or just want to stop by and say thanks, you can post your thought's on Matrix Chronicle (Vijay's weblog).

Related: Google Your Scrapbook (Orkut Scrapbook Searcher)

Google Opens The Gates For Orkut!

(Hat Tip: Mitanshu)

Thanks to Mitanshu for telling me about this! It appears that Orkut Invites are no longer needed in order to sign up for Orkut.

All you need now is a Google account and an honest heart (okay, so maybe the former and hopefully the latter).

Instead of hunting around for free Orkut invites, or buying one over priced on eBay, simply log on with your Google Account (or create one if you are not apart of the club).



Google will then ask you to create an Orkut account which will hook into your Google account (yes, slightly tedious, but you will be allowed to switch it to a different Google account later on if you prefer).

Although this removes Orkut as an exclusive club, this will hopefully bring in more traffic and eventually allow Orkut to compete with the king of social networks (at least in the US) MySpace (which is really ugly in my opinion).

Update: Also noticed this but forgot to mention it (although Mitanshu did on his blog). Google is now allowing Orkut users to choose who they can get friend requests from based on language.



Although a minor feature, this may cut down on the friend requests from Brazil (but then again, most Brazillians are friendly people and I don't mind translating their messages).

More Changes On Orkut...

(Hat Tip: Digital Inspiration)

After opening the gates, it seems that Orkut has created several more changes to Orkut (making it even better).

Dream Chaser has the scoop (with screen shots) on this one.

Why Is Orkut Embracing India?

Anyone who uses Orkut (at least recently) has probably noticed the colorful change on the home page.



Although the new logo reflects Google's celebration of Diwali, it probably is a hat tip regarding Orkut's explosive growth amongst India's population, which may surpass America and challenge Brazil for dominance (which has been decreasing recently).

According to Alexa (which must be taken with a grain of salt) Orkut is ranked in 11^th place worldwide.

Despite its position, Orkut is not very popular in the US. In fact it doesn't even appear on the top 100 list, as both MySpace and Facebook have left little room for any other social network (although Google's newly bought YouTube may help the search engine king in this arena).

Although failing in the US, Orkut seems to be a huge success not only in Brazil, but also in India, with Orkut.com surpassing Google India traffic wise.

This may be a good thing for Google as they are looking for qualified positions within India something they are finding to be easier said than done.

Orkut Takes On Old Blogger Feature

(Hat Tip: Binny)

I came across this over the weekend (but was too busy to post about it until now). Orkut has apparently introduced a feature that allows users to find other people with similar interests. Here is a screen shot that Binny provided me on my scrapbook.



Although this may be new to many users, this is an old feature from the old Blogger (as it is not in the new beta yet) as one can see here.

It seems as if Google is introducing several "networking features" inside Orkut which may be a result of Google's features, not products meeting led by co-founder Sergey Brin.

I wonder if the Orkut engineers would consider adding Gtalk to not only Orkut, but also installing it on the Orkut Friend Map as it would enable users to not only see who is online, but chat with them as well (hint, hint).

The Fox Is Out...It's Time To Update

(Hat Tip: The Blog Herald)

It seems that Firefox 2.0 has just launched and I was eager to see which Orkut hacks work within the new browser.

Although many of them seem to not function too well in the new Firefox, Orkut Scrapper and Vijay's Scrapbook and Forum Searcher seem to be functioning quite well.

Because of the recent changes on Orkut, you may need to update other non-Firefox programs in order to make like easier on Google's forums.

For those of you who use Orkut Cute, version 8.3 is available for download.

Users of Scrapboy will have to do nothing (as your program should have updated automatically). But if you are experiencing trouble, you can download a new version here.

If you come across any other programs/hacks that have either new updates or are working with Firefox 2.0, let me know by commenting below.

Lexy London Adds "Warning In Red"

For those of you who don't know, Orkut Media is Orkut's official magazine highlighting (mostly American) politics, culture and for the lonely love advice from Lexy.

Now, Lexy is not a saint (by any stretch) and she does not write articles geared with a family audience in mind. She does however answer a lot of off the wall questions regarding sex that most people would not be brazen enough to ask their parents, religious leader, or any respectable politician community leaders in town.

Probably in order to protect themselves from future lawsuits, it seems that Google has placed some "discretionary advisor" text in red for users to warn viewers before they open the Pandora's box.



Lexy is one of many writers of Orkut Media, and although not my favorite (Jen Sala holds that title) she probably is a favorite among many Orkut readers for various reasons.

Regarding Orkut Media, is it me or does Google need a developers blog on the site?

Google Wants You To Keep Orkut Clean

Google is responding back to the negative criticism that it has received from the press, and at the same time is asking users to help keep Orkut clean.

(Keep Orkut Beautiful) We love orkut just as much as you do, and we want to keep it fun and clean -- or, as we like to call it, beautiful. Some of the attention orkut has received in the Brazilian media recently has given the impression that our community is rife with illegal activity and discontented users.

Any active orkut user realizes that this characterization is simply false, that our site's very success has always been driven by our members' ability to create the engaging content and communities which comprise the bulk of orkut's population and content. In fact, orkut's top 50 communities, with more than 37 million total members and nearly 1.3 million daily visitors, have no illegal content whatsoever.

Google also seems to be cooperating with law enforcement more closely, which may be why the number of black market Orkut sites that I come across has been decreasing recently.

This may be because more users are reporting these groups (I have, at least with child predators) or perhaps because the American Feds are becoming more aggressive within social networking circles.

On interesting note is that Google admits that the number of Orkut membership is above 37 million with the top 50 forums. I wonder how many people Google really has on Orkut?

Update: Forgot to add this link about Google wanting your help in keeping Orkut clean.

Orkut For My Mobile Phone?

While I was out and about today, finding out what was happening in life via Google News Mobile, I wondered whether or not if I could surf Orkut via my mobile phone (since Facebook, currently popular in America allows you to do this).

To my surprise I discovered that mobile is not available for Orkut yet as Google states:

Currently, orkut.com isn't compatible with mobile devices. To access your orkut profile, please try logging in using your computer's web browser.

Being the natural geek that I am, I started googling for "alternative results" and discovered Opera Mini which allows you to view the web through their mini browser. You need to make sure the browser can work in your phone first, and if so, have fun.

Unfortunately I was out of luck with Opera, and tried experimenting with Widsets instead. Widsets seems to be a great program, although my phone was not very pleased with the java it spit at me.

So, basically I am mobiless on Orkut, but if anyone is able to get any of these programs to work for their phone (AND log onto Orkut) let us all know by posting here.

An Orkut Widget For Opera Users

(Hat Tip: Pramod)

For those of you who don't know, Opera is Firefox's older sister who was unable to get a date with Google, although her younger (and more wild sister) Firefox had a little more success "in that arena."

Guilherme Campos it seems has designed a widget for Opera users allowing them to search Orkut forums, friends and everything else in between. You will need to download Opera in order to use this widget (which you can place anywhere on your screen).

After installing you should notice a small "O" (for Orkut) on your screen:



Simply double click on it and a new frame window should pop up in view, making Orkut life easier.



I'm not a heavy Opera user myself (since Firefox came into my life) but it does come up as a nice backup just in case FireFox and IE are both down on your computer.

Toperkut: A New Orkut Proxy?

Note: I have not had much time to review Orkut forums and highlight them this week, although I will try to catch up next week (as well as any hacks that I see).

I came across this site from a scrap by Elektra. The site is currently down right now (at least for me) but it should be back up pretty soon.



The name of the site is called Torperkut, and it seems to allow you to browse Orkut undetected. It is also equipped with a chat room feature, although unless you speak Portuguese very well you may not find many friends inside.

Basically it seems to be a Brazilian proxy for Orkut, probably created for either political, personal or business (i.e. spamming) reasons.

The site seems secure to my knowledge (as in it does not appear to be a phisher) although you may have to verify that for yourself.

I will upload some screen shots of the site later on (if it is working for me) although if anyone else has (or is) able to try it out, let me know your thoughts about it below.

Update (11/1): Corrected spelling of Torperkut as well as links.

Blogger Beta Adds FTP! (Finally)

It seems as if the boys and girls at Google have added another early Christmas gift to beta blogger users!

They are now giving us the ability to post via FTP which means that we can post a weblog on our own site!

(Blogger Buzz) If you use FTP on the older version of Blogger, you should definitely log into the beta and set up a test FTP blog to make sure it can publish properly to your ftp server. We did a ton of FTP testing on several different popular hosting services, but if you experience any publishing weirdness, let us know via the Contact form -- use the "Report a bug or problem" -> "I found a bug with Blogger in beta" selection to send in reports, 'cause we wanna fix the bugs ASAP.

I have already bought out the domain InsideOrkut.com (which redirects here) but will be testing this new feature on a couple of other weblogs before possibly considering migrating to the new server.

Hopefully I've bought up enough bandwidth to handle the traffic of the site, and it will be interesting to finally "go pro" with blogspot for the first time.

Thou Shalt Not Steal?

I've been receiving reports of forums being stolen and/or hijacked throughout Orkut, which although not surprising is a bit alarming.

I will not highlight any cases here (as I'm not Judge Judy after all) but if your forum has been taken over, you need to contact Google and let them know (visit their Safety and Security Center for details).

And remember, the whole world contacts Google about items ranging from the very dumb to the very serious. Give them some time to respond back to you (at least a week or two).

It's My Orkut?

(Hat Tip: Pramod)

This is not exactly an Orkut hack, but for those of you who are unable to install Firefox, Opera or IE extensions or download programs on your machine will find this site handy.

Originally hosted on a Google Pages site, you can access this link from MyOrkut.co.nr.



What makes this site unique is the ability to access links quickly, as well as edit your profile, and picture.

This page was created by Karakl (spelling?) and if you have any suggestions or comments feel free to let him know in the official MyOrkut forum.

Orkut Adding Google Talk Next Week?

Google may (as in probably) be adding Google Talk within the Orkut interface allowing us "Orkuteers" to chat instantly to each other as well as see who is online.

(Light Reading) The company says its Google Talk and Orkut development teams are busy putting the finishing touches on the integration. The announcement will likely be made sometime next week. [...]

"We noticed that a lot of people that were using Orkut also had their GTalk client open at the same time," says Google spokeswoman Courtney Hohne.

Orkut members will be able to text message and voice chat with other members of the community if they choose to communicate in that way. Google believes the new functions might add a sense of immediacy to member interaction on the social networking site.

It looks as if the previous rumors regarding Gtalk and Orkut may have some weight to them after all. Installing Gtalk will solve two problems at once, as it will not only create a chat program within, but also an online status indicator as well.

Of course, I hope Google gives users the option to turn this off (like in Gmail) or even better, call users via audio within the site (not to mention potential advertisers as well).

Note: It would be cool if Google integrated this within their Friend Maps page, as users would then be able to see which of their friends are online half way around the world.

Orkut And Google Talk: The Code Doesn't Lie

(Hat Tip: Googlified)

Ionut over at Google Operating System has more details over the Gtalk-Orkut integration previously posted before.

I am really looking forward to these changes, although Rahul thinks this may spell doom for Scrapboy (one of my favorite Orkut programs).

Well I feel Google can add another block on orkut home page showing friends using Google Talk the way they shows mutual friends listing on Profile Pages! [...]

This will certainly free orkuttian from using quite heavy scrapboy messenger!

Hopefully Scrapboy will be around to compete, although the new update is probably making engineers of the various Orkut hacks nervous (as every time Google updates its servers, another Orkut hack no longer works).

More Upcoming Features For Orkut?

Ionut over on the Google Operating System points towards some more upcoming features within Orkut.

orkut SMS

With orkut SMS you can send and receive scraps with your mobile phone as well as other cool stuff. But first you need to register your mobile phone to use orkut.

Photo Tagging

You can tag your friends in photos. To create a photo tag, click and drag the mouse to select a friend.

The send scraps via mobile phone sounds like a great idea, although some fear this could be abused by spammers (doubtful as Google could simply ban your phone from its network).

The photo tag also seems to be very interesting, although isn't that wandering into Picasa territory?

Google Talk Limited Within Orkut

(Hat Tip: Luiz Irber via Google OS comment)

It looks like Google is beginning to marry Google Talk with Orkut, as several new features are already appearing within my Orkut account.



Unfortunately it is not a full blown version of Gtalk within Orkut, although you can see the basics of one being developed. In order to sign up, users need to visit http://www.orkut.com/GoogleTalkSignup.aspx .

Users already familiar with Google Talk (and active using it) will simply need to connect their Orkut account with their Gtalk account. You will have the option to simply have all of your Orkut friends see you, or select which ones can view your status manually.

Once you connect the two, you will begin to see changes within Gtalk, that is if your friend has an Orkut account.



(Note: Name removed to protect the innocent.)

Although I do enjoy these teasers from Google, I await the full blown version of Gtalk underneath my Orkut profile.

Note: Is it me, or did anyone else notice the color change around your profile picture? I wonder if the change was made in order to match Orkut's skin for Gtalk?

Revisiting Orkut Mobile

Previously I posted about my disappointment over the fact that Orkut doesn't support mobile phones, although their are some indications that support may be added for the future (think SMS scrapbook).

It seems that an anonymous user (from Brazil I assume) tipped me over to this link which may make logging into Orkut via mobile a bit more friendly.

For those who speak English, I have created a tiny url which you can point your mobile phones towards: http://tinyurl.com/ykko69

Although I am still having problems logging on, this has probably more to do with the type of cell phone that I have, as Verizon Wireless is a little bit restrictive. I'll attempt to find a work-a-round for this, unless of course Google makes Orkut mobile friendly.

Google Officially Talks To Orkut

Google has officially announced the marriage of Gtalk with Orkut over on its corporate blog:

Here's what to look for. If your friends are online and using Google Talk, you'll see a brightly-colored ball by their name. Green means they're available; orange means they're away from their computer; and red means they're busy. But no matter which color, if you see that ball, it means you can chat with or call your friends in just a couple of clicks.

We've put some orkut features into Google Talk too. In addition to chatting, calling, and sending files to your Google Talk buddies, you can also scrap them, receive instant notice when others scrap you, and quickly jump to any of their orkut profiles.

Although I enjoy the integration of Gtalk, I was rather disappointed over its limitation. I was hoping for something similar to Gmail, which has Gtalk on the side, which is more convenient.

I wonder if anyone could develop a firefox hack to insert all of Gtalk within Orkut?

Should Google Fully Integrate Gtalk Within Orkut?

With the official announcement by Google, I was wondering if anyone out there desired more out of the Gtalk plus Orkut integration than simple orange, green and red balls dotting the deep blue forums.

What Orkut has already done with Gtalk is by itself great--but I was hoping for a full blown chat feature underneath my profile, sort of like what Gmail has for its users.

Although Orkut is built using ASP .Net (although it may be running on a Linux server) I was wondering if it would be possible to combine Gtalk's AJAX feature within Orkut's ASP .Net servers in order to allow users to fully chat with their favorite friends.

And if this is possible, should Google implement this within Orkut or would adding this feature make the site more cluttered?

Easy Scraper (A New Orkut Program)

An Orkut member going by the user name Is it me? has created a program giving users some spice to their scrapbook.

Basically it allows you to type in text within its program and then Easy Scraper makes it fancier such as typing your message via Matrix, or making the words appear in rainbow formation.

Although many of these have been duplicated before on other various programs (I think Orkut Toolbar had most of these features) what made it stand out was the mood percentage, which I enjoyed.



You simply enter in the percentage of how you feel and it will create a smiley face representation of your "mood chart."



The only problem is, how would one interpret that? Hmm...

Note: This is a software program so you will need to download it from Easy Scraper online.

Will add this program to the sidebar underneath Orkut User Tools.

Update (11/10): You can visit the official support forum of Easy Scrapper over here.

Using Java To Increase Your Fan Base...

(Via Digg)

To most people Orkut is simply a way to connect with people, but to others its some sort of popularity game.

Some people are into having the most scraps, others friends (or rather strangers who they call friends) and still others having fans is the ultimate way to "Orkuthood."

For those of you desiring to increase your fan base, the digital me has instructions on how to do so via java javascript.

Update (11/23): It's javascript (as opposed to java). I will leave the title as is, lest the permalink to this post end up broken. Thanks guys for the correction!

Orkut Not Corporate Friendly?

(via Promocharger.com)

I am not too surprised at this, as in the states many managers will fire employees for surfing on Orkut, MySpace, Facebook, etc. on company time.

It appears however in India, managers are taking a smarter approach--banning Orkut from the corporate network.

(Hindustan Times) Alpesh Kapadia, a middle-level executive in a Mumbai-based software services' major, is livid. His company recently blocked Orkut, the social networking website owned by Google. [...]

"I used Orkut to network with people with similar tastes," says Kapadia. A software developer, he used the site to meet Linux applications developers and discuss new technologies. He also pursued his interest in music through the site, and planned weekends with friends.

"If you block these sites, employees who frequent them during office hours get upset. But if you don't, there is a tendency for employees to visit these sites too frequently. This is counter-productive," said Khushroo Pithawala, senior vice-president, Datamatics.

Although there are ways to get around these blocks (as any Google search will reveal) it probably is best to find some way to compromise with management over accessing Orkut (perhaps setting up some Orkut friendly computers during lunch break).

Some users (not blogged here) have actually convinced management that Orkut was good for employee morale, although they pretty much begged their bosses everyday about it.

Note: An interesting point from the article was that some employees were using Orkut to find new jobs, something I posted about several months ago.

Orkut Officially Adds Birthday Reminder

I came across this feature many moons ago on Personalized Google, although I did not breathe a word about it because I barely knew of anyone who actually used personalized Google, at least in my country.

Anyways, Google has officially acknowledged its existence on every users home page, which can be quite handy for those of you who do not log into Orkut very often or are a fan of the personalized Google service.



Note: I am not sure about the first two profiles, but the last one is definitely a Googler (see his profile for comparison). It looks like Google was trying to use pseudo-names to hide their profiles, although a quick visit to the official Google forum pretty much reveals all.

Orkut Alert Gets A Whole New Look

It looks like Abhishek has giving OrkutAlert a whole new look from the last time it was mentioned here on this site.

Not only does the program run a lot smoother than before, but it also is more pleasing to the eyes.



The purpose of OrkutAlert is to, well...alert you to new scraps on Orkut. Although other programs such as Scrapboy, Orkut Cute and Orkut Scrapper do these as well (not to mention a ton of other things) what will set OrkutAlert apart is its future addition of alert by SMS, making it easier to know when a friend has scraped your scrapbook.

Speaking of SMS, when is Google going to make Orkut mobile friendly?

Note: You can download OrkutAlert over here, although if you want a lighter version you can visit the Official OrkutAlert Blog for more details.

Update (11/22): OrkutAlert is one word (instead of two) as I previously mentioned. Article has been corrected, although the title will remain the same in order to prevent link breakage.

Happy Thanks Giving Everyone!

Well, in America we are getting ready to celebrate one of my favorite holidays, Thanks Giving!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this American tradition, wikipedia provides an excellent explanation of the holiday, although it can be basically summed up in a simple phrase: being thankful for what you have in life.

Some Orkuteers have decided to celebrate early in Orkut's only Thanks Giving forum (in English at least).

For those of you who think eating meat is blasphemy is not healthy, you can receive free veggie pasta recipes from Bharat by simply posting your email address over here.

Note: As far as Orkut thanks goes, I am thankful for Google developing this site as it has given me a greater understanding of the world around me internationally, especially people of other faiths.

Will India Ban Google's Orkut?

(Hat Tip: Binny, and everyone else who emailed and scrapped me about this)

I sure hope not, but it seems that some people were very upset about an anti-Shivaji within Orkut, causing some violence within a few areas in India.

(IBN) The Bombay High Court has asked the state government to file its reply in connection with a pleademanding a ban on social networking site, Orkut, for hosting an anti-Shivaji web community. [...]

The community had been blocked by the Pune police after violent incidents were reported in the city when its existence came to light two weeks ago. Though the community is currently inaccessible, the petitioner has demanded that Orkut, which has captured the fancy of many Indians, be banned.

I don't know much about Shivaji, (beyond wikipedia that is) although I do not see the value in banning all of Orkut because of a few opinions amongst the millions who surf the forums.

Orkut has proven itself quite useful as many businesses use it to employ workers, as well as people using it to find the love of their life (congrats!).

Although there are a lot of forums within Orkut that I do not agree with, (especially the anti-American ones) I do not wish for them to be removed simply because I cherish the right for all to express themselves freely without consequence.

Simply banning Orkut would not only encourage members to get around the blocks, but also be a major set back for freedom of expression in the great continent of India.

Orkut Mobile Coming Soon?

No, I have no hard sources (or even soft ones for this matter) but I think Google may be headed in this direction--and if not they should seriously consider it after I came across this in my Google Reader.

(The Economic Times) Bharti Airtel and Google have announced a strategic partnership that will allow Airtel to bring Google search to the Airtel Live mobile WAP portal. [...]

"Mobile users outnumber PC users in India by a factor of six. The first computing experience for the majority of Indians in the next few years will be on a mobile phone." Said Manoj Kohli, President, Bharti Airtel.

If more Indian use cell phones than computers and if India is becoming more popular than Google's homepage then I wonder if a mobile version of Orkut is in the works?

Inside Orkut Just Made Blogs Of Note!

I just received a tip from Anand that I made the ever coveted Blogs Of Note (well at least for Blog*Spot users anyways).

For those of you visiting from the front page of Blogger, welcome to Inside Orkut, a blog focuses mainly on Google's bluest (and coolest) social network, Orkut.

Of course, if you do not use Orkut than this blog is of no use to you, but then you would be missing out on all the fun that happens inside.

For my American Friends: Orkut is basically the MySpace of Brazil, or the Facebook of India (not to mention a host of other countries).

If you ever needed a crash course on international culture, Orkut would be the one place where you could interact with people from various cultures, faiths, philosophies and meals (via cooking recipe's).

But in order for you to really understand Orkut, you'll have to find out about from the inside.

Note: If this is your first time on Orkut, be sure to check out the India Pakistan Friendship Club and see what all the cultural exchange is all about!

What's Your Orkut Story?

One of the cool things about Orkut (that is if you live in Brazil or India) is that you can find long lost friends and relatives, and perhaps even strangers of interest.

Oormila Prahlad has posted her Orkut story over on her weblog. Here is a snippet of her post below:

I have suddenly become severely addicted to Orkut. Initially it was a twice-a-day fix but over time, the frequency of my addiction has drastically increased. Now I need it on an hourly basis. It is the natural fallout of being holed at home in a predictable routine with minimal links to the outside world. One discovers a small release that gives a definite high and before long, one is hooked. [...]

16 years back, while in exile in India during the Gulf War, I made it to the finals of the Kerala State Youth Festival Art competition. There, I was introduced to the art prodigy of our generation, Kavitha Balakrishnan. She of course, won first place and I was placed fourth, I think. Over the years, both of us were featured in the media quite often: she was the art prodigy and I was the writing prodigy. Kavitha Balakrishnan and Oormila Vijayakrishnan. Nice alliteration. We never met after that competition. Till two days back. On Orkut.

There are some other funny parts to her Orkut story which made it a great read (hint: read the whole thing). Stories like these are common in the US (well, at least with MySpace anyways) and I was wondering if anyone else had a similar story regarding Orkut?

Orkut Underground, And Why Google Keeps Deleting It

(Hat Tip: My Nick Iz Sick)

For those of you who do not know, Orkut Underground (now at version 4.0) is a forum where users can learn many hacks, tips, and tricks on how to make their Orkut experience even better.

Unfortunately, the forum keeps getting removed by Google, which means users have to start all over again recollecting tips and tricks from around Orkut (as well as the web).

I think one of the reasons Google removes this forum is that it keeps giving out ways for users to flood each other scrap books and communities, which generally counts as spamming in Google's book.

Orkut Underground is a great place to collect useful Orkut tips, but they may want to filter out these hacks (as rejoining this forum after it gets deleted can get old after a while).

Inside Orkut Brazil (Belated Launch)

There appears to be another blogger focusing on Orkut on Blog*Spot! Introducing Inside Orkut Brazil!

Started by Luis Builherme, this blog focuses on Orkut (just like mine) but is in Portugese (which is helpful for our lovable Brazilian friends).

I came across this when Luis first scrapped me about the site, but have not had time to highlight about it until now. After coming across my blog over here, he was inspired to start an Inside Orkut for Brazilians.

And it looks like he is already providing some very useful information, warning users to beware of this Orkut copycat site that will actually upload a virus on your computer (perhaps Google should check this out).

I encourage everyone to subscribe to his feed, and if anyone know of any other Orkut related blogs out there, let me know by post here below.

Note: Adding this weblog underneath Orkut Related on the left sidebar.

Watch YouTube On Orkut

Eduardo [ NewZeek ] over in the Orkut Scripts forum has pointed users towards a useful GreaseMonkey hack that allows you to watch YouTube video's on Orkut (something Google should give users the option to enable).

Unfortunately this only works for YouTube video's, although I will ask him to see if he can develop one for Google Video (as the previous Orkut changes have knocked out the video viewing hacks).

You will first need to install Firefox and GreaseMoneky in order to use this hack (sorry IE fans) after which you can download the YouTube script over here.

Note: Will add to sidebar underneath Useful Orkut Tools.

Update: Fixed code author's name, and apparently he has a version for IE users (lets all celebrate!) so I'll see if I can locate it and post it here for fans of Bill Gates.

Also, an anonymous tipster has alerted everyone that Google will be adding this feature within Orkut soon.

Google will add YouTube and Google Video to Orkut soon. I saw this when i was taking part of Google in Your Language. Translations had many hints about that.

Thank you friend!

Is Google Really Funding Terrorists?

It seems so. According to the Search Engine Journal, which only reports the truth, especially on Wednesdays (and Loren Baker posted this yesterday on Wednesday). Here is what they had to say:

(Search Engine Journal) The specific Google properties which are serving these ads are housed on the Google Orkut social network. Orkut groups which were serving these Google Ads were set up by Hezbollah, Iraqi insurgent and other terror oriented groups.

I took it upon myself to perform some searches within the Orkut network and came across multiple Hezbollah and Al Qaeda groups, associated forums and member profiles which are serving Google AdWords contextual advertisements. [...]

Sure the argument can be put together that Google is not responsible for the content which is created by members of their Orkut community, which lets registered users set up their own forums, blogs, and groups to connect different users over the Google network.

I am shocked, I tell you shocked! Ionut, over at Google Operating System has vowed to never blog about Google again. But why should he?

After all Google is responsible for so many evil things, I can't post them here because they will delete my Ad Sense account.

Is this the end for Inside Orkut?

Disclaimer: I am totally joking, and no Google is not funding terror according to the Search Engine Journal. Matt Cutts (from Google) has already debunked this both in the comment section as well as on Digg.

I actually found this story to be quite funny...until people started taking it seriously. Ah well, we are all human and we all make mistakes...at least I do.

Orkut Cute Adds Google Talk

It looks like a new version of Orkut Cute has rolled out (now at version 8.7.2) and has included with its numerous tools the ability to contact your friends via Google Talk.



Although not a major deal (as Google added this to Orkut previously) one thing that makes this unique is that users have the ability to contact all of their online friends at once.

The feature is located underneath the Cute Talk tab (if you don't see it, select the Manager tab first, then Cute Talk).

For those of you who are not familiar with Orkut Cute, here is a brief recap of what this software (developed by Alexandre Pires) can do for your Orkut life:

• Scrap all of your friends at once


• Change your Orkut background


• Forum notifier (updates you on the latest community posts)


• Scrapbook notifier


• Anti-Virus center (very much needed)


• Last, Google Talk (with built in online indicator)

Alexandre has also developed several other programs for Orkut, although I am not sure if those are free ware and you may have to contact him directly for more details (as they can be misused).

You can find more information about Orkut Cute, as well as support over in the official forum.

India Censors Orkut...But Users Have A "Key"

This is really a sad day for India. A step back for the worlds largest democracy.

I have been following the story of whether or not India would censor Orkut, and it appears that India has taken a baby step away from freedom of expression.

Abdul Qabiz confirms this on his weblog:

I am not able to access orkut.com, it seems it has been banned in Maharastra (the state I stay) or entire India? [...]

I can understand the government's concern about different hate-communities on orkut but I am wondering, why can't Indian government give a list (URLs) of such communities to ISPs so that selective ban can be done instead of entire orkut.com.

Since I am not a legal expert (especially regarding Indian affairs) I would have no clue how the nation of a billion people could go about and resolve this via courts.

However, just because the door to Orkut is locked, it does not mean that there is not a key.

Users may be able to access Orkut via proxy sites, such as Math Tunnel (hat tip: Orkut Guide) until this problem is resolved. There are other resources being developed by users as I type, and if anyone knows (or is creating) access points elsewhere, post a few of them here (and spread the word to your friends inside Orkut via email).

Note: It's days like these that I wish an Indian ACLU existed.

Update: Users in Maharastra seem to be able to still access Orkut. It looks like the ban was in discussion, but not actually used (Thanks Rahul D, DK/SarDaar, Ajay D'Souza, and Vivek for the heads up on this).

Is Google Winning The Scrapbook Spam War?

When it comes to fighting spam, Google has done an excellent job within Gmail, Blogger and even Google Groups.

But when it comes to Orkut, it seems that spammers have found a new way around the word verification system. This probably explains why I keep getting various scraps attempting to improve my "love life" through various forms of physical touch. (I think these spammers need to get a day job)

I discovered this after talking to one of the members of the Orkut Underground (whose forum keeps getting deleted by Google) who showed me a simple GreaseMonkey script that allows a user to post a link and bypass the word verification process altogether (note: for obvious reasons I will not post that script here).

Over in the What should Orkut do? forum, Randi has a great suggestion on what Google could do to combat this.

scrapbook should have 3 options.

1 open to everyone
2 open to friends only
3 open for those who speaks same language as you

and you can choose what's best for you

Google is already working on this suggestion, as it is within the top five feature requests, although it wouldn't hurt to submit that request again.

Indian Police: Hacking Orkut Is Too Hard?

It looks like law enforcement in India are having a tough time hacking through Orkut in order to find the real identities of terrorists and criminals. Is it me or does this strike you as a bit...ironic?

(Indiatimes Infotech) Indian security agencies are having a tough time in catching criminals and terrorists who are members of Google-owned Gmail or Orkut sites.

According to security officials, since Google servers are based in US and their IP addresses are masked, it takes a long time to get the real IP addresses and log details of culprits. Moreover, Google demands a judicial order to process the request which further delays the arrest of the accused, who may even have fled by then.

You would think that they would realize Google (probably) hires the best hackers around the world. Although I wonder if anyone inside Orkut would be willing to offer their services to the cops for a small fee?

Content Copyright 2005-2007 of Inside Orkut. All Rights Reserved. Violators (and hosts) can be prosecuted under national and international laws.

Another Hole Within Orkut...

(Hat Tip: Ha.ckers)

It looks like another hole inside Orkut has been discovered. Credit goes to Rajesh Sethumadhavan for discovering this.

1)Orkut Invite XSS:

The flaws are due to improper sanitization of inputs passed to
'continue' parameter in GET request
---------------------------------
http://www.orkut.com/Invite.aspx?continue=javascript:alert(document.cookie)
---------------------------------

Demonstration:
Note: Demonstration leads to your personal information disclosure

- Login to your orkut account
- Paste the above URL
- Click on BACK button
- Orkut Cookies will get displayed

I've forwarded the exploit to the Orkut team, as this can be potentially used by phishers and scammers (and may explain why so many forums were being stolen, something Google has corrected).

If anyone else discovers any other potentially harmful exploits, you can alert Google by clicking here.

Content Copyright 2005-2007 of Inside Orkut. All Rights Reserved. Violators (and hosts) can be prosecuted under national and international laws.

Scrapboy Updates Their Chat Program

For those of you who contacting me previously about Scrapboy not working, (via scraps and email), I just wanted to let you know that the latest update has rolled through.

Simply launch Scrapboy and it should update by itself. If you are still having problems, I would recommend downloading a new version at their site.

Note: For those of you who use alternative software programs to check your scrapbook (as well as reply), which one do you prefer? Scrapboy? The new Google Talk? Orkut Cute? Easy Scrapper? Did I miss any?

Content Copyright 2005-2007 of Inside Orkut. All Rights Reserved. Violators (and hosts) can be prosecuted under national and international laws.

Forums Of Note (Those Interesting Communities)

When I first started this blog, one of the things I enjoyed doing was highlighting the various interesting forums that users could find within. I started posting about them frequently, but then it became too much to update about them every week.

After checking out blogger's description of Blogs of Note (and actually being selected as one) I thought this would be a great way to highlight these interesting communities of Orkut without burning out.

Since Orkut is a big playground to explore in, I was wondering if any users came across any interesting communities while surfing Orkut? If so, let me know and I'll start featuring these forums underneath Forums of Note (on the sidebar) for all to see.

Content Copyright 2005-2007 of Inside Orkut. All Rights Reserved. Violators (and hosts) can be prosecuted under national and international laws.

New Orkut Software (Meus Amigos Mercem)

(Hat Tip: Elektra)



A new program called Meus Amigos Mercem (or My Friends Deserve) seems to be gaining some popularity for Brazilian speakers, although there currently does not seem to be an English translation of the program.

The basic function of this software is to scrap all of your friends at once, which may be good or bad depending on who the mass scrapper is (i.e. spammer). Here is a description from [content suppressed] via Google translation:

The program was developed for proper use, but as soon as I discovered that it has people that it charges for such bobagem, [?] I decided [distribute] it gratuitously.

This program serves you to interact with orkut and to send scraps and depositions to all automatically its friends!

(note: briefly edited for clarity)

This software reminds me of a very lite version of Orkut Cute, although users may prefer this program if scraping is their main reason for being on Orkut.

I think this software would become a serious competitor to Orkut Cute if it included a way to post messages to all of your favorite forums at once (but then Google would probably then shut it down as spammers would love that feature).

Users can download the program [content suppressed], although there apparently is no official forum for this piece of software. Sigh.

Content Copyright 2005-2007 of Inside Orkut. All Rights Reserved. Violators (and hosts) can be prosecuted under national and international laws.

Help! My Friends Don't See Me!

(Hat Tip: nAvEen)

Some users have been reporting that they are either unable to view their friends inside Orkut or that their friends are unable to view them.

Before you send off an email yelling at Google (note: from personal experience, I can say this doesn't help out your situation) you may want to check out the Orkut Help section to see if Google is already trying to solve this problem.

(via Orkut Help) Some users have reported problems with friends not appearing on their friends list. We're aware of this problem and we're working on a solution. Thanks for your continued patience [!]

Google is already working on several other problems such as correcting Orkut's math count (for friends, scraps, etc.) to making sure the current price for using Orkut remains the same. ;-)

From experience, Google has fixed most (if not all) of my problems, although you must be patient with them (after all, they are supporting 40 million plus users with probably less than 100 employees).

Content Copyright 2005-2007 of Inside Orkut. All Rights Reserved. Violators (and hosts) can be prosecuted under national and international laws.

Are You Having An Orkutie Christmas?

I think the one thing I like about Christmas is that almost everybody (at least everybody that I meet) tends to swallow their pride and smile to complete strangers. The second thing I enjoy about Christmas is the presents! (although I enjoy giving out presents more than receiving...unless its a gift card of course!)

Speaking of presents, one cool thing I like about Orkut is that I can see what my friends want thanks to the wish list underneath their profile (and everybody knows finding the perfect gift is half the battle).

Aside from the materialistic part of giving, some Orkut members have started preparing for the holidays and here is what I noticed while surfing the forums:

• Over in the I LOVE CHRISTMAS community, Wences Laus started a holiday countdown early last month and it seems to be winding down as Christmas is approaching. (note: I wonder who will be the first to post Merry Christmas?)



• Wences Laus also seems to have started a Carol of the day in the SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS forum, although I am not sure if his friends made it all the way through this month.



• Over in the Christmas Birthday forum, it seems users are discussing the age old irony of being born on December 25^th, and how they are celebrating it.

As for me, I've finished buying my gifts (although I do have to personalize them) although I may be blogging light as I prepare for the coming holidays.

For those of you who celebrate it, Merry Christmas! (and for my Jewish friends, Happy Belated Hanukkah!).

Personal Note: Since Google is already celebrating early, do you guys/gals think Orkut should do something similar on their front page?

Content Copyright 2005-2007 of Inside Orkut. All Rights Reserved. Violators (and hosts) can be prosecuted under national and international laws.

Are Orkut Ads Really That Annoying?

(Hat Tip: IndianPad)

Jerry over on Orkut Plus! (a cool blog listing Orkut hacks) has posted a GreaseMonkey script enabling users to remove Google Ads on Orkut.

Now this is not a new hack (as other users have created similar scripts) but I was wondering if Google Ads are really that annoying? After all, most Blog*Spot bloggers (including Jerry) have them on their sites, not to mention many social networks as well.

I don't really mind the ads as they help Google cover their costs and keep the infamous donut errors at bay, but it seems that some (or perhaps many) people find the ads to be a bit irritating.

What do you guys think? Do you find the ads to be helpful, or annoying, and if the latter, why?

Content Copyright 2005-2007 of Inside Orkut. All Rights Reserved. Violators (and hosts) can be prosecuted under national and international laws.

Will Google Merge Orkut With JotSpot?

(Hat Tip: Googling Google)

It looks like Google has some major plans for Orkut in 2007, as the company may be planning to integrate JotSpot within Orkut.

(Internet News) "This year has been about getting our toe in the water. [Next year] will be about taking a lot more steps forward," said Girouard. [...]

Girouard also indicated that Google may use the fruits of its acquisitions of Web 2.0 companies such as wiki-builder Jotspot and social-networking site Orkut to build the framework for a collaboration platform.

For those of you who don't know, JotSpot is a wiki company (like Wikipedia but better) who allow users to create "rich web-based spreadsheets, calendars, documents and photo galleries." (via JotSpot FAQ)

Google bought out JotSpot awhile ago, and may be using them to help unify all of the Googlie services (Calendar, Picasa Web Albums, Docs & Spreadsheets, etc.) within Orkut.

If this is true (as the article is hinting) then Orkut may quickly become a favorite tool for businesses, artists and web geeks like me. ;-)

Note: I wonder if these added features will be enough to dethrone MySpace in the US?

Content Copyright 2005-2007 of Inside Orkut. All Rights Reserved. Violators (and hosts) can be prosecuted under national and international laws.

Saddam On Orkut

Aside from dating, hacks and discussions around technology, Saddam Hussein seems to be one of the major topics on Orkut.

With the execution of the former dictator of Iraq, some members are expressing joy or sorrow over the news of his life ending before the year was over.

Over in the United Nations forum, TicTac informs everyone of the news that Saddam is no more and calls for a beer.

Kristina disagrees, saying she would rather have Saddam rot in his cell than be executed. Sehtareh provides an interesting view of Saddam death and trial by saying:

I have vivid memory of Saddam's bombs dropping. I saw them first hand. I remember how enraged I was when I heard he had made a war memorial from the helmets of dead Iranian soldiers.

I wished him dead many times. But I would have been a lot happier person if he was hanged after a fair trial that exposed him for who he was. I dont want history to have any doubt about how evil he was, and the kangeroo court might just remain excuse for history to judge his fate.

There is also some discussion regarding Saddam's execution over in the American Politics forum, in which Brent thinks this event has made Saddam a god (note: Really?) in the eyes of the terrorists.

But the most interesting discussion seems to be in the International Relations community where Hugo has posted a humorous obituary (by Mario Benedetti) celebrating his death.

Interesting Note: I wonder what the Don't Kill Saddam forum is going to do now that their hero is gone?

Content Copyright 2005-2007 of Inside Orkut. All Rights Reserved. Violators (and hosts) can be prosecuted under national and international laws.