Send SMS in Gmail now comes to India

Gmail has now started rolling out Free SMS feature from Gmail for users in India. One can send SMSs from chat window to mobile phone.

• Use Gmail Chat to send SMS
• Responses will appear as a reply in Chat 
• Conversations will be stored in your Chat history, just like regular chats.

Step 1: Type the phone number you want to send an SMS to and click Send SMS

Step 2:  Add the SMS recipient’s name and country, then click Save

Step 3:  Write in your message in the chat window and press Enter on your keyboard

Done!  Your message has been sent.

The service starts with 50 SMS credits for each user.SMS credit is an allocation of SMS (text messages) that you're able to send to a mobile phone:

• Initially, you're granted a credit of fifty messages.
• Every time you send a message, your credit decreases by one.
• Every time you receive an SMS message in Chat (for example when a phone user replies to one of your messages) your credit increases by five, up to a maximum of 50.

If your SMS credit goes down to zero at any point, it will increase back up to one 24 hours later. So, you won't ever be locked out of the system.

Keep in mind that if you'd like a higher message credit, you can always send an SMS to your own phone, and then reply to that message multiple times. Every time you send a reply message, your SMS credit is increased by five. Effectively, you're buying more messages by paying your phone company for these outgoing messages.

Block SMS from Gmail

If you receive an unwanted SMS message from Gmail Chat, you can block future messages from the sender. Just reply to the message with the word 'BLOCK'. If you change your mind about that sender, you can send a message with the phrase 'UNBLOCK' to the phone number from which the message was sent (the SMS messages sent from Gmail Chat have their own number associated with the sender's email account).

All mobile operators are supported in India for SMS Chat in Gmail.

(Source: Google )

UPDATE: Tried sending SMS via Gmail to mobiles on Airtel ,BSNL service providers but getting error & SMS credit too shown at that moment as decreased but later gets credited if SMS not sent. So at present the service might not be properly activated.

Microsoft launches ‘Putting People First’ ads as users are concerned about Google’s Privacy Policy changes!

Microsoft is placing a series of ads in major newspapers offering the award winning alternatives to Google’s various services. As with the recent announcement of Google regarding Major changes to its soon to be implemented Privacy Policy, many of its users are feeling frustrated, concerned as Google is making some unpopular changes.

The changes Google announced make it harder, not easier, for people to stay in control of their own information. We take a different approach – we work to keep you safe and secure online, to give you control over your data, and to offer you the choice of saving your information on your hard drive, in the cloud, or on both.

And thus Microsoft is reminding the people about its award winning alternatives -

• Hotmail: Join the hundreds of millions of people who enjoy not worrying about the content of their private e-mails being used to serve ads.
• Bing: The search engine that gives you great experiences using the whole Web.
• Office 365: The award-winning online collaboration solution for businesses who don’t want their documents and mail used to benefit advertisers.
• Internet Explorer: The world’s most popular browser, now with Tracking Protection, offering controls over your privacy as you browse.

And to remind people, Microsoft is putting ads in the newspaper as below -

(Click on the image to get enlarged view)

(Source: Gone Google? Got Concerns? We Have Alternatives)

Here I’m providing some links for further reading -

Gmail vs Hotmail: Why Hotmail is better than Gmail

[video] How is SkyDrive better than Google Docs ?

Check out this video - Gmail Man Parody Goes Viral (VIDEO) “Your email is your business. Google makes it theirs”

Microsoft Blasts Google Chrome For 'Stealing' Your Privacy (VIDEO)

Gmail App for iOS updated

Gmail has updated its controversial Gmail App for iOS. These are the updates -

 

You can set a custom signature for your mobile messages and a vacation responder, both available through the gear icon at the top of the menu view.

Also you can now open up a canvas and scribble a message that will be attached to your email. iPad users can give it a try.

Another update is about change of the notification sound that it’s easier to distinguish when you've received an email.BUT I haven’t heard any Sound Notifications when a new mail arrives. Checked in General Settings also still the problem persists. Gmail Please look into it.

UPDATE 16/12/11 : Since morning I can hear the ‘Ding’ when a new Mail arrives. Seems it has been corrected.

Gmail app for iOS available again

Couple of weeks back Google had introduced Gmail app for iOS and has to be recalled immediately after it was found to be buggy.Google says sorry for the mess - pulls Gmail app for iOS within hours

Now it has has been made available in the stores again. It says “We’ve fixed the bug and notifications are now working”

To try out the Gmail app today, install it from App Store on any iOS 4+ device. Those who already have the Gmail app released Nov 2 must uninstall or log out of the old app prior to installing the new app.

I had the earlier app installed , Now I have uninstalled it and now I ‘m not able to install the new App. It just hangs saying ‘Waiting…’ . It may be affecting the other apps also which are to be updated or installed from App stores as its not connecting to App stores. Having bad experience. So be careful while trying out this app.

UPDATE: Later I could install the Gmail app and its working fine. With all its bugs fixed and no error message box popping, there’s no change in interface as compared to withdrawn app. The error I mentioned while installing the new app was due to some Routing issue with the ISP and was not related to the app.

Google says sorry for the mess - pulls Gmail app for iOS within hours

A big hype was created even before the Gmail iOS app was released and people were discussing about it. And when it was made available at Apple store yesterday and after using it , everyone was disappointed.

The app had a bug with notification and as soon as you launch it,you get the bug notification , how can Google have missed this? The net was buzzing all over discussing it.

Even the interface was not liked by its users.

And later Google apologized for it and pulled it from App stores.

Google reputation has surely taken a beating for creating such a mess of its app. Hope it comes up with a better app soon. Now Hotmail though not an app but provides a separate option for configuring its mail in iOS5 http://www.thewindowsclub.com/ios-5-upgrade-separate-hotmail-option making it very easy to setup Hotmail on iOS devices.

Hotmail Wave 4 Vs Gmail – Hotmail allows 10GB of photos and docs per message without stuffing Inbox

 

Vs

Hotmail Wave 4 has added lots of cool new features, one of them is its attachment size limits. It has made it  very  convenient for attaching large number of images. How large, read it on, you’ll be surprised! 

Suppose you want to email and share lots of pictures. We will compare this scenario in Gmail and then in Hotmail Wave4 -

Gmail has the limit of 25MB so you may have to send multiple mails if you want to send more photos. And when sending so many pictures , you might want to select and remove some of them but its pretty hard to do so in Gmail as it does not have preview.  So all this takes lots of time in Gmail.

And the receiver in Gmail will have the option of basic preview and has to download one at a time.

And if one decides to send it via Buzz, Gmail gives the option of sending upto 1GB of photos in Picasa album but can only share with those contacts.  So this is the story of attaching photos in Gmail .

 

Now let us look at what can be done with Hotmail wave 4-

Hotmail optimizes the experience with the type of content being sent , such as photos or office docs.

Hotmail wave 4 now has integrated with the Skydrive , so you can send lots and lots of photos, documents or other files in a Single email.

You can send upto 200 files of 50 MB each or 10GB per email can be sent.

Hotmail provides thumbnail previews so one can easily catch a photo you do not want to be included.

It automatically creates a photo album on the Skydrive and sends a link to everyone in the email. So its not filling up everyone’s Inbox.

It works also for documents and other files too. So you can send a Big Power point presentation without any problem.

 

Here are some of the exclusive screenshots of Hotmail Wave 4 -

 

 

By default this online Album will be available for 90 days on Skydrive, but you can change the expiration date.

 

 

And all this is demoed in this video, A must watch video -

Watch the video and decide yourself. I have been using this pre release version of hotmail Wave 4 since some time and more I use it , more I like it.

Now talking of the receiver – The receiver even if he’s on Gmail will get these photos as a great looking preview of photo album which will allow him to view a full screen  slideshow of all the photos or you can download all the original files in a single zipped file.

The received mail seen in Hotmail -

 

Even the Gmail user also views it in the neat same format -

 

The Slide show the receiver gets, looks stunning with color changing effects -

The best part is the convenience, ease and the beautiful SlideShow.

 

Hotmail Wave 4 Vs Gmail comparison Chart

Vs

As you know, Microsoft has previewed today the New Hotmail with great features. The Hotmail Wave 4 provides slew of new tools and features.
Here’s a head to head comparison of some of the features between Hotmail Wave 4 and Gmail -

	Hotmail Wave 4	Gmail
Lots of Storage	Unlimited	Expanding
Large attachment limits	50 MB	25MB
Total attachment limits per message	10 GB	25MB
Threaded Conversations	Optional	Always On
Integrated Web IM and SMS	Messenger	Chat
Mobile browse	Yes	Yes
Mobil sync/push	Yes	Yes
Forwarding	Open	Open
Flags or stars	Yes	Yes

Check the Total attachment limits per message of Hotmail Wave 4 , its 10GB compared to 25 MB of Gmail.
(Source: Hotmail Competitive Comparison Chart)

Tweet, chat, do Presentations in Hindi and other Indian languages with Microsoft Indic Language Input Tool

EDIT: 09 July 2012 : The Microsoft Indic Language Input Tool has a new url - http://bhashaindia.com/ilit

How about sending tweets to your your friends in Hindi or in other Indian languages? And what’s more, it can be done very easily, you just have to type in English and it will be converted to a target language. This is called Transliteration. Don’t get confused with translation, it’s Transliteration. As many of us can speak multiple Indian languages but can’t write in some languages. So just type in English, it will be converted to target language script. All this is possible with Microsoft Indic language Input tool (ILIT).
Microsoft India has developed a tool which makes it very easy to enter text in various Indian languages. It can be used to enter text in any application on the PC or any page online on the web like in the browser.
You can give it a try there on the page itself.
So for this, there are 2 versions available - Web Version and Desktop Version


Currently it supports 6  languages- Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. And soon many more will be added to the list.

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EDIT : As I had said in my post, soon new languages will be added, and here they are. As of today 3rd Mar 2010 , 4 more Indian languages added - Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya and Punjabi . That makes support for 10 Indian languages now.

 

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Talking of Web version , its as simple as dragging it to your Favorites bar or right clicking and adding it to your favorites. It supports all major browsers - Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, Opera. Just follow the simple instructions. Once added to the favorites bar as in IE or as bookmarks in Firefox -

So whenever you are online and want to type in Hindi , say you are in Twitter web version,and you want to tweet in Hindi, Just click on this Hindi from Favorites Bar (if you are using IE)
So you will see in the tweet text box this symbol -
 
And you can just start typing, and that button is toggle switch, so whenever you want to switch back to English, just click on it.
Or if you are in Bing or Google or Chatting within Gmail, follow the same procedure.





Now talking of Desktop version, you’ll have to install it for the language you require. Once installed, just follow the instructions given in Getting started. If you are installing it on XP , then you may be asked to insert the Windows XP installation media during this process. Windows 7 comes pre-installed with Complex language support.
Once the desktop versions for various languages installed,  you’ll see -

Once you select the language , it will show the current language


All these have been neatly explained step-by-step in Getting Started page. So in whichever application you want say   MS-Word, you can start typing, 'of the applications in which Hindi is being used -

Or in Messenger

or in a twitter Client like Seesmic -

Or in Windows Live Mail

or you can prepare PowerPoint Presentations slides in Hindi -

For any query, please check the FAQ page.
Its really fun and easy to type in Hindi. I enjoy it very much tweeting in Hindi, give it a try now.

Google now providing an option to hide or disable Buzz

Google has started providing option in Gmail to disable Buzz or to hide Buzz. It also has option not to show the lists of people you are following on your public profile.

But is it too late after its Privacy Flaw ?

Click on image to Zoom

How to show Google Buzz updates on twitter

Google Buzz has created a lot of buzz on the net, though mostly for the wrong reasons like privacy flaw or the name ‘buzz’ itself etc. And I think its the initial excitement which is making people explore the buzz. You all must have also tried what all this buzz about. How long will this excitement last, will the people accept it in the long run? I doubt.

Anyway, Buzz provides option to connect to various sites including twitter so that your tweets gets displayed in Buzz.

 

But how to do the reverse, that is how to show the Buzz updates in your twitter timeline? Here are the steps -

This can be done by using RSS feeds of Buzz updates. Open Buzz, click on your name to show the link to your Google Profile. Click it to open your Google Profile page. And you can see the RSS icon in the address bar

 

Click on the RSS icon and you will get the Google Buzz feed page. Copy this feed URL from the address bar.

And this feed URL can be used in service like twitterfeed .

If you don’t have an account, signup and paste the Google Buzz feed URL.

And in the advanced settings, you can make the post content as ‘description only’ and can uncheck ‘Post link’. You can also keep the ‘Update frequency’ as you want ‘and post up’ to as 1. That’s all.

So whenever you Buzz, these will also be shown in your twitter timeline. btw, I’m sticking to twitter, though will keep exploring the Buzz.

Here comes the Google Buzz

Today when you sign-in to Gmail, you’ll get this page -

With the growing popularity of twitter,facebook; now Google has launched its own way of sharing updates, photos, videos and more. It has launched Google Buzz. Buzz is built right into Gmail and automatically starts following the people you email and chat with the most.

You can choose to share publicly with the world or privately to a small group of friends each time you post. As you sign-in to Gmail, you will see the buzz icon below the Inbox. Google is rolling out to all in the days to come. Buzz is also available on mobile.

 

 

Google has come out with Buzz, now its for people whether they like it or not . Its a nice catchy ‘name’ ? (remember Yahoo Buzz? .

 

 

Google Buzz for mobile

 

 

EDIT: After trying it out for sometime,I’m not sure whether people will like this another social thing or not. I think all these have been tried and done before by others like Microsoft and yahoo.

Twitter and facebook gives a different kind of experience and my preference is still twitter, either in its web UI or using some twitter client. I’m not giving a total thumbs down to Google Buzz but let us see how it grows with more additional features. If it tries to add more feature it should not end up like Wave. Complicating things.

Let me try Buzz for few more days. Again I would say, I prefer twitter!!