Recently Google has started a page to let Orkut users look up what is new with their services. Obviously one can follow the official Orkut Blog but most users might want to just look up a single page and check if they missed anything. As you all know that Orkut does not change a lot of things. Definitely they do not change things around every day for us but once every few days.

You can now look up what is new with Orkut by visiting http://orkut.com/whatsnew.

This is probably showing Google’s intention of leveraging Orkut a little bit as many Orkut users might be using Orkut but not know its integration with Google Chrome and Picassa.

You can visit that page for the latest from Orkut or you can always leave it to Orkut Diary to write about the latest happenings on Okrut.

How to check whats new with Orkut? is a post from: Orkut Diary

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FIFA World Cup 2010 fever is now spreading across the internet and social networks cannot really be an exception. Orkut has now joined in the reverie and celebration of the sporting event nicknamed by soccer fans as ‘the cup of life’.

So now if you are a soccer fan and want to show off your love and support for your team in the World Cup. This is by using any of the 32 country specific themes on the world cup.

All you have to do is click of the Theme and check the Games and Sports section which shows all the 32 different themes. They are not very different except minor differences like the uniform of the players show up as the team you have selected.

So do you have a favorite team in the World Cup? Do let us know which one is your favorite through your comments.

Orkut has FIFA World Cup 2010 themes for all 32 teams is a post from: Orkut Diary

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Orkut today announced some changes to the layout of it’s settings which will allow for great ease and control over privacy and other settings you have regarding your Orkut account. Is that a jab to Facebook and its privacy issues?

So now it Orkut settings are neatly tucked under Orkut settings as you can see in the image below.

Orkut setting’s new format has 4 tabs namely, Profile, Privacy, General and Notification. Here Privacy has some simple and straight forward options like you can toggle between your friends or everyone for options like who can see updates, sending friend requests etc.

Change Themes

The new options regarding changing themes are quite helpful. If you are on your profile you can view all the new themes with the Theme link right at the top.

Another great idea rolled out by Orkut is that when you visit someone elses profile and see a theme you like and would like to have it, you can simply look up at the page and click on “Get this Theme” link which replaces the “Change Theme” link shown above.

It looks like Orkut is making it easier for its users to have different themes and settings to be tweaked neatly without leaving room for confusion.

What do you think? Has Orkut got it right here or the settings and Themes section still needs some more work? Do let me know your comments.

Orkut simplifies settings and themes is a post from: Orkut Diary

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Just image you are looking to meet a friend who is online. You are chatting on Orkut and make plans to catch a movie. Now you can drop in a Google Map location in a scrap you send to your friends.

Just visit the scrap book of the friend you are writing to and there is a new icon for dropping in a map.

This is nothing new with Orkut making a lot of changes in the past few months with respect to allowing people to do more things on Orkut which includes sending files while chatting, photo sharing on Orkut and much more. It seems Google might be paying some much needed attention to Orkut but I wonder is it too late in the day. What do you think? Do drop in your comments.

Google maps meets Orkut scraps is a post from: Orkut Diary

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Orkut has already introduced sharing of photos on its website. One great way to share pictures on your Orkut profile is to share them directly from Picassa.

Sharing images is very vital for any social network and sharing them easily across the board is more important. We already use Twitter and Facebook without visiting their websites but actually doing so through their APIs on various websites. This is pretty much the same with photos which also you do not want to really share from just one platform.

Orkut also now allows sharing images through Scraps. These new and interesting features are being shown off by Orkut with a video on its blog.

Here is the video for sharing photos on Orkut

The video also explains how you can not just upload albums but also share them with selected friends and also with email address of people without an Orkut account.

Do let me know your views by dropping in your comments.

Orkut shows off photo sharing with a video is a post from: Orkut Diary

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The new and latest addition to Orkut is that you can send files over from chat on Orkut. This is in actually probably a test phase before rolling out ‘Send a File’ feature on Gmail.

This feature has also been introduced in iGoogle and according to their blog it will soon make its way into Gmail chat.

• Before you start using it you must be sure that the person receiving the file also is using either Gtalk messenger or using iGoogle or Orkut to chat and not logged in from Gmail.
• As of now Gmail does not support this feature but in future it certainly will.
• This gives Orkut a bit of a head up over Facebook considering sending and receiving files from a social network is a little new and also quite convenient.

Let us know what do you think about the new ‘send a file’ option? Do you think it will add crucial value to Orkut? Do drop in your comments about it.

Link: Orkut Blog

Send files through chat on Orkut is a post from: Orkut Diary

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Orkut enabled chat option long time back, recently Orkut introduced a new feature in chat option, i.e. Video and audio conversation.

To enable the video chat in orkut you need to install this small plugin from official page.

According to official orkut announcement:

Orkut is all about keeping people connected, and a lot of people use orkut’s voice and video chat to stay in touch. Lately, we’ve been hard at work making it work even better, and the reception has been so great that we’re giving voice and video chat a new home at the top of the chat window.

If you are an Orkut addict you will enjoy this new feature from orkut. Do let us know what do you think about this orkut video chat feature?

Orkut Enabled Audio and Video chat from Orkut Web Page is a post from: Orkut Diary

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Many of us love the game of cricket and love Orkut. IPL matches are already being shown live on You Tube. Now could Orkut be far behind?

Now you can join the new Official IPL community on Orkut.

Official IPL community on Orkut

• It has videos from YouTube and quite handy to catch up on the action everyday as the videos are posted everyday.
• It also has a preview and poll of the next matches that are scheduled for the day.
• The forum seems to be quite active and its forum discussing the first match had a incredible 200 plus discussions.

So if you want to discuss and follow IPL with other Cricket lovers join the Official IPL community on Orkut and have a blast.

Join Offical IPL group on Orkut is a post from: Orkut Diary

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When ever we have to upload any pictures from our mobile to Orkut, we usually copy the pictures to desktop, open orkut and after that we upload the images. This increase the time and more work for us to update our Orkut photo album. Orkut has released a new Orkut-picasa uploader plugin to upload pictured directly from picasa.

Using this plugin is very simple, all you need to have is Picasa installed on your system. If you don’t have picasa installed in your system, you can download it from here. Once picasa is installed, download this plugin. After you done installing plugin it will ask you for the confirmation to launch the picasa application. Click on allow.

After that simple select the images you want to upload it to orkut and click on share on orkut and you will can instantly upload your images from desktop. Check this screenshots, which will explain the procedure in details :

After clicking on upload, it will ask you for your orkut logins and you can select the album or create a new album to upload your images.

I’m sure if you are an orkut addict you will love this concept of uploading images to orkut directly from homepage.  Do let us know, what do you think about this article?

Upload Images to Orkut Directly from Picasa is a post from: Orkut Diary

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Orkut users must be waiting for this one. You might be like me who was wondering that Orkut is owned by Google and Chrome is a Google product so why havent we seen Chrome extensions for Orkut. The wait is over and the Orkut extension will really go a long way to make it easy. If you frequent Orkut and use Chrome, I think this extension is a must have for you.

Orkut Extension for Chrome

• Just install the Orkut extension for Chrome and sign into your Orkut account with the extension.
• It keeps a look out for new scraps and status updates.
• It also has a handy drop down menu for all that you might need to look up on Orkut features like photos, scrapbook, videos, Orkut apps and much more. Click on one of them and you are taken to the page directly.
• The extension allowed me to look up my friends directly from the browser itself and visit their page directly. I was a little disappointed as I could not search for my Communities directly.
• I could also share a page I liked through orkut with a simple click.

Try out the extension on your Chrome browser and let me know what you think about it? I am quite happy that Orkut is moving along with new features and options which is vital for a vibrant Social networking website.

Click here to download the extension.

For a quick demonstration of how this extension works while searching for friends I made this video.

Get Orkut updates on Chrome [Video] is a post from: Orkut Diary

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