Tag: social

Nokia Social updated to 1.2.163 for Symbian^3-Change Details

Finally some updates arrive to Nokia Social- The social application on Symbian^3 got updated to version 1.2.163. Which seems to be the second update to the same application of size around 2.38 mb. Seems to pushed by last night 2AM Indian time, Its already been reported to appear on Nokia N8-00, Nokia C7-00 and Nokia C6-01, so we could assume that the update is for all Symbian^3 devices.

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While its hard to notice any of the differences, but it seems to be tweaked from inside to bring many of the changes in the core. Following are some of the changes that I noticed.

  1. Quicker loading of app and better connection handling: Probably due to the fact that its loading the older updates from last session without using internet connection first. Making it possible to finally load, even in absence of reliable network connection, which was taking ages earlier (never loaded on WAP to me). Though I am still unable to update via WAP connections, but with 3G, APN or WiFi, its going smooth, which is a good news for people, who were finding themselves unable to get it loaded even on Wi-Fi.
  2. No arrows back on Home Screen Widget: Some already said that such tiny arrows were of no actual use, but I guess there are so many more people, whom this annoyed a lot, when arrows got missing in last update. Now still, all what you got to wait for the second update to appear on the screen. Not a good thing.

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  3. Likes and comment counts on Home Screen Widget: Though I wasn’t able to get a screen shot of the same, but the widget now shows "likes" and comment-count on status updates.
  4. There is no change is color and its still white: For a better battery life, it was being expected that they will make the background darker in next update, but that didn’t happened till now at least.
  5. Facebook part is a lot smoother now: Can’t say about twitter part, but facebook part sure seems to improve on scrolling part. Inline previews of pics and videos are loading quicker (A things that Gravity misses badly). Its loading text first and images at last, a hint for people, who might be complaining on not loading pics.

Well out of many things that people might be wishing from the social app, what most i am wishing is, manual settings for the connections, in the way, those are in Gravity, A darker theme, common options like Reply to All, Re-tweet, geo-tagging available right there in app and list goes long. Let’s see, when will Nokia reach there. Till then we all are calling it a very very minor update.

Manual Download:

For people, who missed to get it in to their OTA updates via Menu–> Application –> SW Update, could download the sisx file from here http://nmota.messaging.nokia.com/clients/Social_1_2_update.sisx

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Concept Application for Nokia N8-Contacts Redefined

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Recently I wrote about next coming Nokia Flagship, Nokia N8, the crown bearer of all Camera Phones in the world. There still remains a lot to talk about the same, but real thing will be when it reaches to our hands. Admirations, amazement and long wait to explore it.

Wait must be making you crazy!!!! now you can do more than waiting, to make the jewel your own. A chance to make the next coming Symbian^3 experience even better, a chance to take things to another level. Give your idea about a new app and if it sounds cool then you could win a Nokia N8.

All the details are here. That’s is what keeping Nokia on the top since all those years. First the Device from Community Ideas and then the future Nokia device, then create your app and now this. Must say, you are heading right Nokia!!! Winning or loosing is on another side, you belong to hearts.

So, what you are waiting for? Its your chance to make it, go for it. An idea could change the life.

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Like the last competition about Future Nokia, in place of taking part into competition only, my idea is to take the opportunity to present some of my thoughts, which will be very basic, very possible, just Layman’s Take, but still worth thinking for. so here I am presenting one of my ideas here that I don’t think will get voted much there (I am not popular like CJ or AAS :jealous)

Before you you read further, let me tell you that this app is not real till now like I seen this post referenced as somewhere. This was my own concept that how contacts could be improved on Nokia N8. The screenshot is obviously from an iPhone.

Contacts Redefined (Social / Geo)

The idea is not entirely new. There is already an app named Hermes on Maemo fetching info like display contacts picture, numbers, webpage, birthdays etc from your social contacts and putting into contacts and calendar. I just wanted to add some more and bring it to already much social Nokia N8 in a big way.

Think about a future, where you need not to ask/ tell your friends about their numbers, birthday etc or update them about changes, because its always updated right into your phone without any manual efforts. You don’t even needed to create a phone book, when get a new phone. No one misses birthdays anymore, if not logged into social connections for a while as their phones will automatically going to remind them about upcoming birthdays or events.

Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Orkut etc. all are open with their APIs and depending on privacy level user chooses, practically its not big deal to fetch such profile information from your social connections. Though Hermes doesn’t do that but the same application could be extended to add geo info as well from Ovi Maps or Google Lattitude etc.

Think tomorrow is your friend’s birthday and at 11:45 PM, your phone rings a bell about that and after greeting him/ her in night, when you woke up in morning, at 9:00 AM, you get driving instructions to reach him/ her, if practically near.

I don’t talk about cheesy things, but for me its a very practical, basic and very possible idea to go with. If you fear about battery, then updates could be manual/ optional or of longer durations or in place of replacing/ adding info, it could be chosen to pop up as suggestions kind of (Google Buzz way). Obviously customizations possible from performance point of view or to avoid cluttering on user’s preferences, but practically unlimited contacts space needs something like this for very sure.

Not sure that Ovi will pick this idea today, but it will come to smart phones very soon, from here or there. If you think phones as your personal assistant, friend or companion, then you want this.

If you think this idea is cool then vote for it or promote it in your own ways. Its there (search for Nitish).
 
 
photo of Nitish KumarNitish Kumar

FM Channels, Social Messages

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“ Busy work life, then at home number of TV Channels and computers. Radio might be left in lives of students or old age people only.”

Few years back one might have thought so, but a number of FM Channels seems to have changed the scenario completely. The first ever private FM Channel was Radio City 91.3, which was launched pretty long back on July 3rd 2001 in Bangalore and now there are a total of 278 official private FM Channels and 171 FM transmitters of AIR Stations. A more good list could be seen at wiki here. Rise of BPOs and Cabs really have given a big push for Radio industry in a way that it came out of circle of students only things.

But I am not here for discussing about all the FM Channels, there are many. I remember the time, when I was hearing many of them including Radio City, Fever 104, Radio Mirchi and last introduction to me was Meow FM 104.8, once I started going to office by bike, the link was broken between me and Radio from long. Recently, I caught with the same chain and this time the channel in attention was Red FM. More than the punch line (that really works) “Ye Aaj Ke Jamane Ka Radio Station Hai Apke Baap Ke Jamane Ka Nahi”, fresh songs, naughty RJ’s pranks and ideas, the thing, which took my interest in it was many campaigns running over it in simple yet effective manners.

Although later I learnt that these campaigns are not of their own, but from respective agencies. A little search over by various terms and I reached to few interesting ones,

Save Fuel Yani Save Money from PCRA (follow the link, interesting radio ads to listen),
Planet Ke Rakhwale from Nokia (I seen paper ads as well in Nokia Care),
Save Paper from Idea (Its really impressive one and we have seen many such from Idea only. Good Work!!!),
Save Tigers from Aircel (Don’t know its only Aircel’s innovation or some more organizations are involved, but the campaign is really spreading well),
Fundamental Rights,
Raqtdan from NACO (The most  effective promotion for Blood Donation till date),
DLF IPL – Bhai Ki Shadi (Funny and Interesting. Last two seasons didn’t seen such innovations),
Think positive from Social Awareness (Really social organizations are pressing hard and effectively to make HIV positive people acceptable within society),
Sikandar from National AIDS Control Organization (Such bold campaigns can exist in now days youth india only)
Way to India Gate, Papa, Chalan Kat Jayega from Delhi Traffic Police
Voice Karo Choice Karo from Radio City
Wrong Rights – Aditi, Wrong Rights – Pappu from Radio Mirchi
Bachcha Bachcha from KC Mahindra Education Trust (Making a point to think)
Pappu Vote Daal Le, Chalane De from Radio Mirchi
Murgi for bringing awareness about quality news
Kamla Ka Hamla – Rakhi, Kamla Ka Hamla – Amir, Kamla Ka Hamla – RGV over public figures
Prayaas – ICC, Prayaas – BRT, Prayaas – Hindi Dubbing, Prayaas – Poem in Movies, Prayaas – News in Newspaper, Prayaas – Historical Monuments from Red FM

Funny ones like Ajay Devgan, Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra, Saif Ali Khan, Amir Khan, Bappi Lahri

While, I find of these extremely funny, I found them worthy and effective attempts of brining awareness to post RDB youth. Really youth doesn’t think the way, our elders might be thinking we are, we want to do many things, we have many nice ideas to bring the changes for betterment of the country, just we need the directions and support.

It will be a shame if we don’t respond and praise these kind of campaigns with full throat. Join me, raise your voice, send me some more such innovative Radio Campaigns you liked.

Why I came to write about FM and Social awareness?

When was coming back to home, then I seen some newly creating buildings, which were created by Mayawati Sarkaar for ‘Kusthrogis’, which were living there in ‘Jhopris’. I was really excited and surprised to see such a good thing from her side and sure was with praises even if I kind of hated her politics and her kind wastage of money over useless monuments , but anyone if does a single big of good thing, should be praised to encourage do more next time. I remembered that how last time in flood those ‘Jhopris’ were flowing in water and our so called educated people were taking visits to see how conditions are there (in place of offering any piece of help).

The above reminded me of those campaigns, I heard over Fm and thought that something good happening for sure around us.

While thinking all these, I also think about FM Transmitting capabilities of Nokia N900 and other such phones with FM Transmitter. Think you can spread your messages over FM Radios, FM Tuned Cellphones and also could make your buddies sitting in nearby cubicle tuned in with songs, you might have played on your cell (quite handy if your area not getting FM reception from outside).

World is changing and we could make it changed for better.

photo of Nitish KumarNitish Kumar


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How Orkut could regain strength in front of Facebook

“ Some find it hard to believe, some find it obvious now; some says that it will regain the place back, some says its just international trend arrived at India now; some wants to see Orkut rising again and some finding ways to shift their profile/ photos etc from Orkut to Facebook. But its true Orkut is loosing the turf in India against the Facebook: Social Network Giant for rest part of the world since long. ”

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The news is not new and been floating around here on web since March 2009 that Facebook is getting a steady rise in India while growth of Orkut getting slower. I thought to write over it, n102452128776_1831when something attracted me to Facebook recently. It was addictive Farmwille application, which got kind-of-craze among my colleagues in recent days and when the craze finally got me, then I was surprised to see many of known faces on Facebook. I was also impressed with this particular application in the way its single handedly keeping users engaged in each hour and also luring more to join.

I had profiles on both of the social networks:

Orkut and Facebook, but Orkut always remained prime for me. In fact, I was logging into Facebook once in a while in month only, while Orkut was part of daily habits from Home, from Office, from Mobile. I kept on hearing about national/ international celebrity profiles on Facebook and getting search results showing Facebook profiles, but still it was not able to lure me as I didn’t thought that its offering me anything more than I getting from Orkut, specially after recent makeover of Orkut.

But after checking out techcrunch article, I thought to gather some info about the same topic and in the same way, I came across few interesting articles like 12 Best Reasons Why People Leave Orkut And Migrate To Facebook & 10 Ways Orkut Can Compete with Facebook and felt that I could come up with a few answers and suggestions of my own:

  1. Privacy: There is a lot of buzz about this and many people choosing Facebook over Orkut, because of this only. Initially, as per generic philosophy privacyof Google, it was to be open for all means one has to be shown as he is with all others. Scrapbook, photos, Friend Network and Profile info, everything was open to all. So, it was an open world, where you could contact and know about others in the way, they want to tell the world they are.

    In Facebook, by default only your friends can see your profile. The others can only see your name and thumbnail (reduced version of the profile picture). Nothing more. In addition, you can always configure the options for privacy as deemed appropriate.

    But many times it happens that you wanted to be open for some people and for some, you want to remain closed shell. Like celebrities or popular people, if everyone is allowed to write to them, then they wont be able to use these social networks coz of spam. So, later on, Orkut added some restrictions like only your friends could write in your scraps or could see your photos/ videos (in case of photos, restrictions could be categorized per person basis). Although somewhere I find these step more of caused by market demands than the original philosophy. More or less, people called it a welcome step, but still Orkut kept it more open than Facebook.

    As a step to answer demands, I think Orkut really needs to provide some more detailed Privacy configuration options. Like scrap book could be managed to open for people/ groups only we want, others could only read their scraps only or not even could write. Same for new feeds, photos, profiles and other features.

    Specially, where Orkut needs to look out is restriction over profile view. Even if I liked the larger profile pics, some might not and moreover, they might not be wishing to roll out their information for all. Although as being a technocrat, I understand the difficulties lying under such a big change as it will require to change the root way, Orkut stores information for users, which will not be a simple task.

  2. Publicity: We really find Orkut keeping itself low profile in comparison to Facebook, which although been a philosophy of Googlepublicity about all of its products. Google always  placed its products on top without too much going into media on the basis of its own unmatched set of features only. While this strategy worked for most of the services, might be reason of failure in case of Orkut. Facebook really has a strong media presence and in other part of world, we really could find many people, who might not even heard of Orkut.

    It’s really high time, Google should think about Media presence of Orkut even if Google doesn’t want it to be a Business Website. Although I also know the implications that it’ll also lead to brining more ads to Orkut in the way Facebook has coz no point in investing in media management, if you are not making high business use of the same. But still I am looking for Orkut to be heard in most part of the world.

  3. Applications: This is really becoming the bottleneck of the equations between Orkut and Facebook. Even if Facebook already been an orkut-appsestablished brand, now in India, its getting an high very much due to its diverse applications. Orkut also has few applications, but those are really few and none are kind of engaging in the way Facebook has some like Farmville and Mafia Wars.

    As I said this is bottleneck, so Orkut should really do something about it, not today, but now.

  4. Restricted Networking: In case of Facebook, if you wished to join Community of your Company Network,restricted then what you need a genuine corporate email id, otherwise, it wont  allow you to join, while in case of Orkut, its maximum level is moderator’s approval, whose task goes tough, if company is spread around world and moderator has no efficient and effective way to evaluate in real time.

    For some it might be, but as per my view, Orkut should not bother about such a feature. Orkut was not an Official Place sort for Corporate and communities were created by users only not from Corporate itself. It was not business world, but was an open and simpler world and I wish it remain open in the same way, coz this was the reason, Orkut was liked and grown even when MySpace and FaceBook were already giants in other parts of world.

  5. Design: Some find Orkut’s design as a benchmark, while some says same for Facebook. When I joined Orkut, then it was due to its decent and simple blue theme and even this was the tagline then. Although as per demands, it changed its way. I really dont know yet, if Facebook has something like scrapbook, where actual conversations flow and sometimes, you could get an idea about people by their scrapbooks, while Facebook kept it around newsfeeds, which might be many at a time as per size of your friend list.

    Though Facebook had an advantage earlier to keep most of the things limited to one page only, but new look of Orkut made it compete in that way as well.
    facebook new look New-Orkut-SnapShot

    I really find nothing to change from the root about Orkut design right now. It should grow with its own learning curve as being done in past. 

  6. Photo Tagging: Although that was an area, where Facebook started, but Orkut got it more better with face recognition. In facebook, you find the face manually, photo-taggingwhile in Orkut  it does the same automatically and recent makeover of Photo updates make it scoring higher over Facebook.

    What I am really looking for as an addition to Orkut Photos system, is its integration with Picasa & Picasa web. I means you could sync your Orkut album with the one you own at your home and upload photos from Picasa to Orkut. I know Orkut could do this due to integration of its services and really looking for, when this change will happen.

  7. Status Updates/ News Feed/ Link Share: This was really an area, where I was looking for an improvement from Orkut orkut-status-updatesside, which Orkut recently heard, by providing Share on Orkut feature. I guess, now we could find Orkut Share buttons spreading among blogs like Facebook/ Twitters share buttons. Although still I am disappointed with its being JavaScript based as WordPress.com doesn’t support that or might be I am not able to find some work around.

    But still I find status updates/ news Feeds an area of improvement for Orkut as now. Status updates a.k.a. News Feeds are more configurable, innovative and richer in Facebook right now than Orkut. A must feature, I will be looking for the next improvement in Orkut.

  8. At the end, I really dont wanna see “Bad Bad Server, No Donuts for you” again.

Not finished Yet …. I really want readers to add up more and more suggestions for betterment of Orkut. Please do write.

photo of Nitish KumarNitish Kumar