Samiul's Thoughts

Picasa Web Album: Free Photo Hosting For 1 GB only!!!

2009-09-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

Learn about the connection of Picasa Web Album with Google and its limitation of Photo Hosting in short!!!

Hello everyone. How are you guys?? Fine I hope. Anyways, today I am going to discuss a very important aspect of blogging which is, Photos. Yes, photos are what that turns a very boring blogs into a very interesting one. When I started my blog I had decided to make it very colorful. So naturally I began to use a lot of high resolution photos in my blog. Plus the "Insert Image" button in the online editor of blogger post really made me excited. I had began to think I could upload unlimited photos like this and make my blog full of them. But I was wrong!! (well I am wrong a lot of times)

Google Blogger does not host its own photos, i.e they store the pictures we add in posts somewhere else. I found out that it's in a Photo Hosting site called "Picasa Web Album". "Well so what?? As long as I can upload unlimited number of photos its good"- I thought. But when I entered the site to check my album I was very disappointed. I found a lot of stuffs in there but none of that matters to me anymore since I found a very limiting factor of this photo hosting: DOES NOT ALLOW UNLIMITED PHOTO HOSTING. You can check it yourself if you don't believe me.

Details on Picasa Web Allbum:

As you can see Picasa is directly integrated with your google account. If you use blogger then you are already registered with an account here. Just type in your google account details and you can sign in.

Once you go into the Picasa home page, look at the bottom of the page. You will find something saying,
"You are currently using 0 MB (0.00%) of your 1024 MB. Upgrade Storage"!!!

I was shocked when I found this. Picasa hosts your picture for free but there is a limit. A big limit of 1 GB hosting storage. After that you must pay to upgrade and get more storage. You can buy storage at four rates: 10 GB for 20$ per year, 40 GB for 75$ per year, 150 GB 250$ per year and 400 GB for 500$ per year!!!

If you have money or don't use pictures in your blog then go ahead and keep using Picasa. But for those with no money (like me) and who uses lots of pictures in their blog, this is a serious problem.We cannot simply keep on using Picasa or else we will hit a wall. We have to find a solution.

I have already started my search to find new alternatives of Picasa. One thing I know is that there is nothing free in Internet, but I am sure we can find an alternative of Picasa with far more less limitations. When I find them I will let you guys know.

Facebook Tip (Hack): How to invite all your friends in 10 sec

2009-09-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

Learn how to invite all your friends for a group or fan page in less than 10 seconds (works only for Firefox).

I have recently learned a secret (well not so secret now) technique in facebook. Few days back when I was checking out groups related to Mafia Wars application I found an interesting group that promised me to give 700+ members in the application. I joined them and got around 20 members only but I saw something great in their group. They were using a java code to make inviting easier for people. And to my amazement it actually worked.

I will explain more clearly. Inviting people for groups is a real pain, especially if you have lots of (1000+) friends. Selecting all your friend in one go becomes very time consuming and boring. But now things are different. Using a hack code I can now easily select all my friends in less than 10 seconds. No waste of time at all!!!

I have a group and I am using this trick there. So I will use my group Just For Laugh Jokes as a simulation to give you a hang of it. You can easily leave the group later if don't like it.

STEP 1: First you need to log in to your account (Duh!!).

STEP 2: Then you need to visit the group and join it. Here is link :
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=115956010232

STEP 3: Once you have joined click on the "Invite People to Join" link. That will take you to a new window.

STEP 4: Copy the code below:

javascript:elms=document.getElement

ById('friends').getElementsByTagName('li');for(var fid in elms){if(typeof elms[fid] === 'object'){fs.click(elms[fid]);}}

.

STEP 5: In your invitation window paste the code in the URL of the browser and press enter. All your friends will be automatically selected.Then press on "Send Invitation".

Voila!! Its done in 5 simple steps. It was pretty easy right?? Ohh.... almost forgot. In case you want to leave the group I forcefully made you enter, follow the next step.

STEP 6: Visit the the group and go to the right. Below the logo there are some links. Press the lowest link at the bottom "Leave Group" and you will be out.
.

So that's how I invite people now in facebook. The same procedure can be applied for fan pages. Just paste the code in the fan page invitation window and everyone will be selected.

Let me know if the code worked for you. Leave a comment and have fun inviting people. :-)

Easiest way to submit xml Sitemap in google for Blogger

2009-09-13T18:14:00.000-07:00

Learn how to easily submit xml sitemap for your blog in google using this step-by-step picture guide.

I have created the blog but its no use if no one comes. I don't need thousands of visitors but few houndreds won't hurt. And getting those few hundreds is really tough because I never got them before, But that does not mean its impossible to get them.

The easiest way to get visitors is from search engine. You probably heard the term search engine optimization, right?? Its actually a process whereby you make it easier for search engines to find you and thus easier for readers to find you. Anyways I am really not in the mood to talk about SEO (search Engine Optimization). Need to sleep now, but before that I am going to submit xml site map for my blog. So I thought I would let you know how I am going to do it.

I don't know how to submit site map in any other search engine except for google. I will let you know when I find out.

STEP 1: Anyways, to submit xml site map in google you will need the Google Webmaster Tool. Its free to register so register now.

STEP 2: Once you register click on "Add a site" and enter your url. Then press continue.

STEP 3: Then you will need to verify your blog. You will have two options, Meta Tag and HTML file. Select Meta Tag but don't press verify yet. Copy the meta tag provided.

STEP 4: Then go to blogger.com and select your blog (the one you provide the link of). Go to "Layout" from there and then to "Edit HTML".

STEP 5: Create a backup of your template if you want to (not really necessary) Paste the meta tag right after "head" in the template and save changes.

STEP 6: Go back to google webmaster tools and click on Verify button. Your blog will be verified but not indexed. You will need to submit site map.

STEP 7: Press on "Submit a Sitemap"

STEP 8: Click on "Submit a Sitemap". Then in the pop-up put "rss.xml". This will enable your feed as a sitemap resulting in automatic submission in google every time you post. Wonderful right??

That's it. With this you have submitted xml sitemap to google. Your site will not be indexed immediately but it will in around two weeks (yeah google bots are slow). But once they come they WILL index you and will come back for more every time you post. This should bring you a fair amount of traffic or visitors after a while. SEO is a more of a long term process rather than short term. So be patient. Thank You.

Started to really BLOG!!

2009-09-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

I had created lots of blogs before and only found myself deleting them few days afterward. There was just something missing and I just couldn't point to what. Now I found my answer and I am sure I won't be deleting this blog. What I lacked was the passion for blogging. Now I understand the meaning of blogging; to share ones feeling and experience with others.

From today on, I will share whatever I can with every one. I have stopped thinking about traffic and contents. Even if no one comes I will keep on writing. I won't think for hours before publishing a post just so that everyone finds it interesting. Neither will I limit myself into a topic. I will write with all my freedom on every single thing I know.

This blog is like my open diary.If it helps you even a tiny bit I am happy!!