Farewell To Orkut: Google To Shut Down It's First Social Network

Orkut, the first social networking site, launched by Google in January 2004, is now to be shut down on Sept 30 after more than 10 years of service.

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Orkut had many active users in Brazil and India but didn't have a firm place in rest of the places. Nevertheless, it has a unique acetic feeling, nostalgia to it, for all those who had ever been an active user on Orkut.
Existing users will be able to export all their data using Google Takeout but creating new Orkut accounts won't be possible as per the announcement made by Google's Orkut team on 30th June in their blog post.

Tchau Orkut 

Monday, June 30, 2014 | 10:23 AM
Ten years ago, Orkut was Google’s first foray into social networking. Built as a “20 percent” project, Orkut communities started conversations, and forged connections, that had never existed before. Orkut helped shape life online before people really knew what “social networking” was.
Over the past decade, YouTube, Blogger and Google+ have taken off, with communities springing up in every corner of the world. Because the growth of these communities has outpaced Orkut's growth, we've decided to bid Orkut farewell (or, tchau). We'll be focusing our energy and resources on making these other social platforms as amazing as possible for everyone who uses them.
We will shut down Orkut on September 30, 2014. Until then, there will be no impact on current Orkut users, to give the community time to manage the transition. People can export their profile data, community posts and photos using Google Takeout (available until September 2016). Starting today, it will not be possible to create a new Orkut account.
Orkut, the service, may be going away, but all of those incredible communities Orkut users have created will live on. We are preserving an archive of all public communities, which will be available online starting September 30, 2014. If you don't want your posts or name to be included in the community archive, you can remove Orkut permanently from your Google account. Please visit our Help Center for further details. 
It's been a great 10 years, and we apologize to those still actively using the service. We hope people will find other online communities to spark more conversations and build even more connections for the next decade and beyond.
Posted by Paulo Golgher, Engineering Director

Google is now completely focussing on Google+ , which recently celebrated it's third Anniversay in social networking.

First 10 people on Facebook

Following are the first ten people to sign up on Facebook. Check out their bio and what they are doing now.

18 Effective Tips for Impressive Facebook Page Posts

The following infographic by getpostrocket.com lays down a few awesome yet simple and effective tips to make great posts on Facebook to attract plenty of fans.

 

Facebook Enables Anonymous Login Into Apps And Websites

Before, Facebook shared user's personal information with apps and users. Now with Facebook's newly brought in feature of Anonymous login, it's upto the user that when they login via Facebook whether they wish to share their personal information or not. Here's a short infographic by clicklabs on it.

Microsoft Warns Of Fake Job Offers

Phishing, the act of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication, is not a new trend. Only now Microsoft has also joined the list of those trustworthy entities whose name is being used by scammers.

Microsoft has perhaps recently received many queries regarding these fake job offer mails due to which they are warning everyone of it. Following is the message I received from them in my Microsoft account.

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Recruitment Fraud Awareness

April 9, 2014 -

We want to make you aware of some incidents whereby certain organizations or individuals, claiming to act on behalf of Microsoft India’s companies have contacted potential job seekers or candidates and made false offers or promises of employment with Microsoft India companies. These false offers or promises of employment can also involve requests to the potential job seekers or candidates for payment of money against ‘fees’ on account of placement fee, application fee, caution deposit, etc.

Please note that Microsoft (including any authorized agencies or firms that conduct recruitment on its behalf) do not, under any circumstances, require money or payment from applicants during the recruitment process. Any such false job or employment related communications, whether requiring payment of money or not, that appear to originate from Microsoft are unauthorized and fraudulent in nature. These could originate from fictitious or misleading email addresses, websites, portals or online social or professional networking sites. Such false or fraudulent communications may also be printed on forged Microsoft letterheads and stationery, refer to Microsoft’s office address or be copied to a Microsoft email id. You are advised not to respond to such fraudulent and unauthorized communications or offers from such persons. You are also advised to notify any such incidents to Microsoft at recfra@microsoft.com. If you are the victim of such fraudulent offers or promises of employment, please report it and file a complaint with the relevant police authorities. Microsoft will provide all reasonable cooperation, as required by you or the police authorities, in pursuance of your complaint

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Kindly be aware of any such mail, be it from Microsoft or any other company. No company would ask you to submit money for any reason. 

You can recognize a spam mail by certain obvious aspects. You can read Fake Hyundai Job Call Letter to get an idea.

Do not even provide personal information as your response could be used for identity theft as in the following examples.

Fake 'Abba Queens Hotel' Job Offer Mail

Fake Audi Promo Program

People claiming to make you millionaire

Also, if you're on Twitter, you might want to read this, Don't Fall For Phishing On Twitter.

How To Add A Click To Tweet Link To Your Blog Or Website

Wish to add a 'click to tweet' link for each one in a list of facts or something similar?
It's actually pretty simple.

Step 1:
Head over to http://www.linktotweet.com/. Write the tweet that you want to be displayed.
Note: If you are going to include a link in your tweet, you should first go to https://bitly.com/ and shorten the URL. Then copy and use the shortened URL in your text.

Once you're done crafting your tweet, click on Generate Link Button.

Step 2:
The needed link URL will be generated right below as shown.

Copy this URL and then use it wherever you wish to.

For instance, if I wish to add this 'click to tweet' link in my blog, I generally write the text TweetThis beside the sentence to be tweeted and link it to the URL generated as above, as I have done in this post, Interesting Facts About Microsoft That You Probably Didn't Know.

You could also try clicktotweet.com and clicktoshare.me  for the same purpose. However, my personal choice is linktotweet.com because it doesn't require login and is the simplest to use.

There is a also a feature to see the link-clicks statistics on your tweet entries without registering.

Courtesy to Zoran for mentioning this in the comments via blog.agile-code.com.

Just use your CODE, and combine it with http://www.linktotweet.com/s/CODE.

So, in our sample case here, if we visit: http://www.linktotweet.com/s/S4IOUIKN we can see the stats around visits and view other things.

However, if you register, you have the possibility to manage your tweet text and see more statistics not available for non-registered users.

Interesting Facts About Microsoft That You Probably Didn't Know

• Microsoft didn't make MS-DOS, their original Operating System. TweetThis
  
  They licensed the software  for 86-DOS (aka Quick and Dirty DOS) from Seattle Computer Products, reworked it and then renamed it.

• Microsoft is involved in near-continual legal battles. TweetThis
  
  A large portion of their legal woes for the last decade centered around monopoly-like business practices that illegally blocked competition.

• At Microsoft, they like to mix work with pleasure.
  
  Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder, was a childhood friend of Bill Gates. TweetThis
  
  Founder Bill Gates married Microsoft employee Melinda French. TweetThis
  
  Steve Ballmer, the second Microsoft CEO, was a Harvard class-mate of Bill Gates. He was Microsoft's 24th employee. TweetThis

• Chujwamwdupe, a hacker, published attack codes after Microsoft refused to credit him for finding software vulnerabilities. TweetThis
  
  Microsoft usually credits hackers by their online handle, but "chujwamwdupe" is a sexually explicit term in Polish, and Microsoft was uncomfortable with this graphic name.

• Microsoft was originally called Micro-soft. TweetThis
  
  They removed the hyphen in 1976. Microsoft is a combination of the words "microcomputer" and "software".

• Microsoft's total revenue in it's first year was $ 16,000. TweetThis
  
  In 1989, just four years later, they made $ 1 million.

• Windows was originally called Interface-Manager. TweetThis
  
  Fortuantely, the marketing department stepped in.

• WinVer 1.4, the first Windows Virus was unleashed in 1992. TweetThis

• Jim Allchin, a former Microsoft executive who retired the day Microsoft Vista was released to the public, felt that Microsoft had lost it's way with Windows Vista. TweetThis
  
  He claimed that he would have purchased a Mac had he not been working for Microsoft.

• Microsoft had made Bill Gates a billionaire by age 31. TweetThis
  
  He was knighted by the Queen of England in 2005.

• 2009 was the first year in 23 years that Microsoft reported a quarterly drop in revenue. TweetThis

• Microsoft has more than 10,000 patents. TweetThis
  
  They are one of the top five U.S. patent holders and file about 3,000 every year.

•  Microsoft is one of the biggest corporate collectors of contemporary artwork. TweetThis
  
  They have over 5,000 pieces. Their collection includes works by Cindy Sherman, Chuck Close and Takashi Murakami.

•  It's a Microsoft tradition to celebrate events with M&M Candies. TweetThis

• Microsoft interviewees are asked unusual questions like "Why are manholes round?" TweetThis
  
  They are also asked to design products that Microsoft isn't going to produce, like a coffee maker for astronauts. Microsoft uses these unique questions to gauge their creativity.

• Temporary Microsoft employees are given an email address with a dash (-) before the at (@) symbol. TweetThis
  
  Permanent employees refer to them as "Dash-Trash".
  
  P.S.: In case you're wondering how to add the TweetThis link to your blog or website, read this.

Classic Pixel Art In MS Paint By 99 Year Old

Hal Lasko, better known as Grandpa, worked as a typographer back when everything was done by hand. His family introduced him to the computer and Microsoft Paint long after he retired.

Now, Grandpa spends ten hours a day moving pixels around his computer paintings. His work is a blend of pointillism and 8-Bit art.

Meet 99-year-old Hal Lasko, The Pixel Painter. 

This film on Hal was screened at Cleveland International Film Festival and Imagine Science Films Festival and has also won the People's Choice Award at Imagine Science Film Festival.

Originally a traditional painter, Hal switched to MS Paint full-time when his vision was impaired by wet macular degeneration, an eye disease that causes blindness in the center of the vision. 

“He’ll talk to anyone for hours about his artwork,” says his son Ron. “It’s his passion. He loves to chat, and it takes nothing to get him going.”

"On my 85th birthday, the family presented me with my computer," Lasko said. "I didn't even know how to turn one on."

“When I lost my eye-sight, I wasn’t able to get the brush quite where I wanted it,” says Lasko. “So when I got into the art program on the computer, I appreciated that I could magnify it enough to be sure that I was hitting the right spot.”

Lasko says he draws inspiration from impressionism, and that his artistic influences include Edward Hopper and Paul Klee. Many of Lasko's paintings feature trees. He mentions how the poem Trees had this influence on him since 3rd grade. He recites the poem,

"I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain... "

Ending it with an additional line,

"Poems are made by fools like me, 
 I always say, paintings are made by fools like me,
 But only God can make a tree"

While he initially didn’t realize that his digital paintings could be printed, he now has a website selling prints of six different works, launched by his grandson, Ryan Lasko.

Following is one of the remarkable works by Lakso.
Image: “Looking Up” by Hal Lasko

Microsoft, the company whose software enabled Lasko to continue his artistic career, acknowledged him by featuring his work in its Super Bowl commercial.

Pursuing his passion with such dedication at this age, Hal Lasko is an inspiration to all of us.

You can connect with the amazing artist at this Facebook Page.

Five Reasons To Try Out Google+

I remember the time when google+ was about to be launched. I read about it's new feature of putting people in different circles so that you can share their updates with relevant people, more like hide it from a few people. I can also recall that Facebook said that they didn't fear google+ as the concept of circles is not sufficient enough for users to take the load of migrating. Moreover a lot of people would prefer to share their updates with the whole friend list rather than go with the complication of sharing it in various circles and I was one of the latter ones. I totally agreed with Facebook. I had presumed that google+ is a failure and never bothered to give it a try up until recently.

My first interaction with google+ might be when I started writing blogs on Blogger. There is a feature which automatically shares all your posts on google+. Even then I never bothered to actually visit the site. It was when I felt like putting an image to my Gmail account, that I visited google+ for the first time but didn't stay to surf. Finally, it was a boring, nothing-to-do day that I felt like surfing google+ and since then I've paid quite a few visits to it now and then which has made me realize that google+ actually still has a lot of hope. Here's why.

• The GIF Images
  Google+ allows the sharing of gif images which although sounds trivial, makes it a lot interesting actually.
  
  Tell me the following GIFs won't make surfing google+ fun.
  
  
  
  
  
• All the Google services are connected.
  Google has described Google+ as a "social layer" that enhances many of its online properties, and that it is not simply a social networking website, but also an authorship tool that associates web-content directly with its owner/author. It has helped them understand each user as an individual since google+ interconnects all of google services i.e. gmail, youtube, google drive, google maps, blogger etc. into a user profile.
  
  In fact, now we can even email google+ connections. Although it is criticized a lot, but in my view that was quite a smart move by Google. Our email addresses aren’t visible to someone on Google+ until we send them an email or reply to an email they sent us in Gmail. Moreover, we can control who can email us via Google+ by changing our settings in Gmail.
  So all in all, we can use it to our benefit without being spammed.
  
  
• Google+ Communities are pretty awesome.
  

          The posts are actually useful, interesting and are kept under check by moderators.

• The google+ circles aren't exactly cumbersome. 
  Whenever we 'Add' someone, it gives us the following options.
  
  We can add a person into multiple circles. Likewise, when we share something, it gives us the same options. So, it happens right away without involving any kind of custom settings and is therefore not really a task as it sounded to me earlier.
• Much lesser spams
  Spamming according to me, is terribly handled by The Facebook Team. There has been numerous times when my friends and I have reported something and Facebook just never does anything about it.
  
  One time a guy had used a cover picture of my friend's profile which was a group photo of 10 girls, as his cover picture and even added an offensive caption to it. Each one of us reported it but it is still there. In fact, that guy now uses a new cover picture of a new girls' group, clearly taken off some-one else's account.
  
  Another time, account of my friend's cousin was hacked and filled with pornographic images. She reported it to Facebook and later told me that Facebook replied her back saying that the account seems perfectly fine.
  
  Not to mention the filthy pages Facebook is full of, something which doesn't seem to bother the moderators much.
  
  Up until now, I haven't encountered any such case on google+, though probably because it doesn't deal with that many users and pictures but even then it still remains a drawback for Facebook.

   

Tool To Determine Your Personality Type By Analyzing Your Facebook Posts

We know that we are watched online, our feelings scanned by Google and Facebook to figure out what to sell us next. Now we can get a feel for what that looks like, thanks to a linguistic analysis tool released by a start-up, Five.

Five Labs analyzes the language in which we write, and determines our relative affiliation to five personality attributes: openness, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism.

Based on the initial responses to the site on Twitter, “people seem to identify pretty strongly with the personalities we generate,” said Nikita Bier, the co-founder of Five, which is working on a product for online conversations that will use similar technology. “Only about 10 percent said we were outright wrong about them.”

Part of that may be the overall vagueness of the typing, which can provoke the same kind of identification people feel for the most general newspaper horoscopes.

Mr. Bier said the point of the exercise is not precision, but to give people a sense of what social media companies are doing with us, probably with much greater sophistication.

“The predictive qualities of the five types are good for advertising,” he said. “People who are more open go to coffee shops, and have interesting apartments. You might want to give them an ad for Ikea. Neurotic people worry about their health, so you might pitch them vitamins.”

Let's see. I guess I cover all the five traits fine enough, although I never thought of myself as a very open or extraverted person; maybe online I am.
Then, you may also check the personality traits of famous people such as Mark Zuckerburg's below,
You also have the option to compare yourself to them. For instance, as it turns out, I'm actually 70% similar to Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.

Then again I was disheartened when they analysed that I'm merely 24% similar to Mahatma Gandhi as I strongly believe in all his ideals.

You can also check the personalities of everyone in your facebook friend list, and here as well, compare them with yourself. Apparently, I'm not that similar to my best friend as I thought.

You can also compare your friends with each other. Quite a few options, right?

Go ahead. Give it a try and let us know how accurate it was for you.