Binbert » Internet

Google+ and the missing social media channel

Albin Sebastian — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:06:55 +0000

So, it’s been almost six months since the launch of Google+. Back in June and July we were all signing up and creating ‘circles’, but how much have we used it since? More importantly for owners of small businesses, how much do commercial organizations and businesses use the service?

Research shows that the idea of Google+ is very attractive to businesses, or at least, they are unwilling to miss out on the potential clients that Google assured them they were bound to connect with using Plus. Two surveys, by BrightEdge and Simply Measured showed that 77 % and 61 % respectively of the world’s top brands had Google Plus pages, but very few have very many followers.

Of course, many big brands from Starbucks and Party Poker and even Mark Zuckerberg have Google+ pages, but what is the attraction of the service. Well one of its benefits might well be that Google are skewing their results to be more Plus-friendly! BrightEdge have found that Google+ pages are being incorporated into organic Google research. This was revealed in particular when looking at AT&T results and raises a number of interesting questions.

All-in-all Google+ looks to be one of the less successful of the creations from the Internet Midas and just goes to prove that not everything Google touches turns to gold. But then this probably has something to do with the way the company develops its products. Back in 2006 Marissa Mayer, the boss of Google’s Idea Factory told a correspondent from Business Week, “We believe that we should be launching more products than what will ultimately become phenomenally popular”. So, it could well be that Google+ is a very expensive experiment that will never really rival Facebook. But then, when the company has that much income, they can probably afford a few failed experiments.

Facebook timeline cover photo size

Albin Sebastian — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:12:36 +0000

Exact image size of a Facebook timeline cover photo : 851 X 315 Pixels

Configure a GPRS dialer in Linux using wvdial / gnome-ppp

Albin Sebastian — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 05:35:25 +0000

Accessing internet from linux pc using GPRS connectivity is easy in latest Linux distributions like ubuntu. Some of the Linux distributions are not integrated any of those dialers. Some days back i faild to dial out from my backtrack 5, that inspired me to find out the possibilities and write the possible solutions. I have setup a wvdial and resolved the problem. I now it is difficult for non techie users to configure/dial from the console. Here i explained the installation / configuration of GUI based dialer (Gnome-ppp ) as well as wvdial. Before going to the configuration you have to collect some information.

How to detect modem name ?

Monitor log file and find out newly plugged devices. Run following command and plug your device.

#tail -f /var/log/messages

Find modem using wvdialconf.

#wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf

Above command will automatically create a configuration file with your current modem. open the fine and find the line starting with “Modem = “

Here i am using My Nokia 5230, so my modem is /dev/ttyACM0. I am using this in my examples. replace the line with your exact modem name.

APN names of your GPRS provider (Only for GPRS dials )

You have to know the APN name of your service provider for gprs configuration. you can check the same in your handset configuration, or contact customer care to get your APN name. I am using Apn name of Idea cellular. So APN name “internet” is used in examples

Method 1 – Wvdial

1, Download and Install wvdial
For online users
#apt-get install wvdial
For offline Users
There are some dependency for wvdial download all packages and install
Packages as follows,

1. libwvstreams4.4-base
2. libwvstreams4.4-extras
3. libuniconf4.4
4. wvdial

Debian lenny - http://packages.debian.org/lenny/wvdial
Debian Sid  http://packages.debian.org/sid/wvdial
Debian squeeze http://packages.debian.org/squeeze/wvdial
Debian wheez  http://packages.debian.org/wheezy/wvdial

Ubuntu natty http://packages.ubuntu.com/natty/wvdial
Ubuntu lucid http://packages.ubuntu.com/lucid/wvdial
Ubuntu maverick http://packages.ubuntu.com/maverick/wvdial
Ubuntu oneiric http://packages.ubuntu.com/oneiric/wvdial

2, Configure wvdial.conf

File is located at /etc/wvdial.conf. Find the sample to know content format. you have to change the modem name, username, password, and the APN name, according to your scenario. i have already cover about how to find the modem name. Most of the providers are not using authentication. but you canot put that field blank. fill it with any values. Here it is “web” . You can find the APN name in the 6th line.
Init3 = AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”internet” #Here “internet” is my APN name,

[Dialer Defaults]
Modem = /dev/ttyACM0
BAUD = 460800
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Init3 = AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","internet"
Phone = *99***1#
Username = web
Password = web
New PPPD = yes
Stupid Mode = 1

Wvdial configuration file creator

You can also create a config file using command “wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf”. It will detect the modem name, modem speed etc.. and create file /etc/wvdial.conf. After that edit the file and change values of phone, user, pasword etc..

How to dial : Open a termainal and type “wvdial” to connect internet

Method 2 - Gnome-ppp

1. Download and install Gnome package from here http://goo.gl/WkXdw

2. Open Gnome PPP from applications.

Give Phone number as *99***1#

3. Click setup button
Under Modem change Modem with your modem name

4. Click “Init Strings”
Add following text in last line (replace word internet with your APN name)

AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”internet”

5. Close settings windows and Click “Connect” button

Google+ Cheat Sheet

Albin Sebastian — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 05:46:11 +0000

This Google Plus Cheat Sheet is created by Simon Laustsen . Share your tips to improve

Website design customization in client side using Firefox add-on

Albin Sebastian — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 09:37:47 +0000

Did you ever think that you can remove some unwanted elements from your favorite site? Yes it is possible using some Firefox add-ons. Some times I have to use low bandwidth connections like GPRS. So a customized site will load faster in my pc. You can disable ads and others elements from a site which you frequently use. See my examples in following images.
This is possible with the help of Adblock Plus and Element Hiding Helper. Both add-ons are supported on firefox 4. Download and install both Adblock Plus and Element Hiding Helper. After firefox restart adblock plus will ask for subscribing default Adblock database. Subscribe it first. Now open a site which you want to customize.

You can see Adblock Plus Icon on the top right hand side. Click on the icon and find “Select an element to hide”. You can also use shortcut “Ctrl + Shift + S”. Then mouse over through the site and you can see the div tags highlighting. Click on the element you want to hide. Those setting will be saved for that particular domain.

www.gmail.com

www.4shared.com

www.160box.com

GPRS Access point name of Indian mobile service providers

Albin Sebastian — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 09:42:22 +0000

Here is the list of Indian mobile service providers with access point name ( APN ) . APN name is the important potion of a GPRS setting in the phone. Normally you can download GPRS settings from service provide. But some handsets are not supported this formats in that case you have to manually configure GPRS settings in your phone. This is very much helpful for those who user “mobile partner” software for Huawei products.

Service provider	APN name
AirTel	airtelgprs.com
	airtelwap.com
	airtelmms.com
	airtelfun.com
Aircel	aircelgprs
	aircelwap
BSNL	bsnlnet
BSNL ( East )	www.e.pr
BSNL (West )	gprswest.cellone.in
BSNL ( North )	gprsnorth.cellone.in
TATA Docomo	tata.docomo.internet
Hutch	www
Hutch Gujarat	web
Idea Cellular	internet
	imis
	mmsc
MTNL Delhi	gprsmtnldel
	gprsppsdel
MTNL Mumbai	gprsmtnlmum
	gprsppsmum
Orange	portalnmms
Spice Telecom	simplyenjoy
Vodafone	www
	portalnmms
uninor	uninor
MTS	gprsinternet

Google Define IE8 Accelerator with Preview

Albin Sebastian — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:04:00 +0000

Besides Security, CSS Support and Speed; the reason why Firefox is becoming the favorite browser for Internet Users is the availability of Tons of add-ons.

Internet Explorer 8 came with a Trump called Accelerators. In short, Accelerators are key-board free way of browsing the Internet.

Google Define (with Preview) is one such handy and useful IE8 Accelerator which displays the definition of selected words in your webpage using Google Define Service, without leaving the webpage or opening another Tab. Refer the screenshot below:

This will be a handy add-on for those who reads a lot of articles online.

Firefox users can also use this handy Accelerator after installing the Firefox plug-in: IE8 Activities (Accelerators) for Firefox.

To install Google Define (with Preview) IE Accelerator,

And yes, it works with IE9 beta too.

Google command line – GoogleCL

Albin Sebastian — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 04:38:15 +0000

Now access Google services from command line. Google’s new utility called GoogleCL allow you to handle Google services from command line. Initial stage you can use some of the services. That are Blogger, Calendar, Contacts, Docs, Picasa, YouTube . using this tool we can easily upload albums to Picasa web. Import export contacts. add/ remove google contacts. upload videos to youtube. Post articles to blogger Etc.. There are some examples usage of GoogleCL listed below . The application is written in python. Minimum python V 2.5 running on your computer to run GoogleCL. Its working with the help of Google Data API ( gdata-python-client ).

Download links

gData : http://code.google.com/p/gdata-python-client/downloads/list

GoogleCL : http://code.google.com/p/googlecl/downloads/list

GoogleCL Examples By Google

Refer more Examples here

* Blogger

$ google blogger post –title “foo” “command line posting”

* Calendar

$ google calendar add “Lunch with Jim at noon tomorrow”

* Contacts

$ google contacts list name,email > contacts.csv

* Docs

$ google docs edit –title “Shopping list”

* Picasa

$ google picasa create –title “Cat Photos” ~/photos/cats/*.jpg

* Youtube

$ google youtube post –category Education killer_robots.avi

How slow is our high speed internet dreams?

Pramod Thomas — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 11:10:47 +0000

Everyone has dreams. Not only persons but nations also have dreams. India’ biggest dream is to become a developed nation by 2020. We have been a poor country for decades, then we got the status of developing nation. Now we are running to get the unique status of a developed nation. India is the youngest country in the world. Japan, which enjoys the credit of developed nation, is older in nature. Yet it is technologically strong. But in normal case youth is more addicted towards communication and technology. But it is true that world’s youngest nation is not that much obsessed towards technology.
22 percent of India’s total population is living below the poverty line. 70 percent of India’s population resides in villages. The internet penetration in India is much slow compared to other developing nations. Our high speed internet dreams are slower than others. We observed 2004 as ‘broadband year’. Six years have passed. But we have done little in order to increase internet penetration in India. In 2005 India’s target was 40 million internet subscribers by year 2010. But we are far behind and now this dream seems unattainable. At present India has only 14 million internet subscribers. One of the recent survey states that Internet access is a fundamental right, but in India it is not considered so. In a recent development US has proposed to give super fast internet access to every citizen by 2020. An estimated cost of $350bn has been set aside for this project. Australia has also made this provision followed by UK. But India being a large market is not moving it’s finger to achieve this goal.
Rural population density, illiteracy, infrastructure problems are the main reasons behind this low penetration. There are approximately 40 crore mobile phone users in India. On a monthly basis at least 10 million new subscribers are added. Internet access is essential considering the economic growth of a nation. Because communication and transfer of data plays a key role in this regard. India’s internet penetration is only about 2 percent of the population.
After the 3G spectrum auction there will be a change in these figures. The online world in this country is growing on a day to day basis. The existing bandwidth and speed will not be sufficient in the near future. Latest budget put forward a vision for the country as a whole. But super fast internet was not there. Actually now is the time to think about and act on the very issue. As the BBC survey stated access to internet is a citizen’s fundamental right. High speed internet is inclusive in it. Some kind of lobbying should be there to provide us the same.

Super-fast broadband – The US choice

Pramod Thomas — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:04:10 +0000

Now speed is the way of life. In this digital era speed determines everything. From news to day today affairs speed is essential. According to BBC report United States of America takes speed to the next level. For the internet users across the globe, speed is as important as their lives. Recently US government unveiled a plan to give super-fast broadband to every citizen in that country by 2020. The commission proposed this plan and termed it as the greatest challenge. This plan is now before the US congress awaiting for approval. It is estimated that one fourth of US population still don’t have broadband at home. A BBC survey termed internet access as a human right and the participants reiterated that it is the duty of the government to provide the same.
This move is in line with the global outlook about internet. Everyone now a days needs a common platform to interact and internet is the most suitable one. America’s first comprehensive broadband road map was formulated by The Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In the plan it is predicted that super-fast broadband would provide more opportunities for the youth. It will be a foundation stone for “economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness and a better way of life” the plan states. Now 20 crore Americans are using high-speed internet, it took 20 years to reach this figure. It is estimated that the new plan would cover more people in less time. According to BBC the total cost for the same will be $350bn.
US government may take the way of spectrum auction to find money for this scheme. This would be of PPP (public private partnership) model. Major companies including Microsoft and Facebook have already expressed their interest in the plan. Now the ball is in congress’s court. If everything goes fine, US will be the first nation to provide high speed internet to all. But Republican representatives will say yes? Only time will give the answer.