The search engine giant Google on Thursday released a desktop Transliteration IME, an Input Method Editor which aids users to type in 14 Indic languages using Roman keyboard accessible in online or offline mode. The service was previously available by the name Google Indic Transliteration as an online service.
Users can type words phonetically using Latin characters and the Google Transliteration IME would convert the word to its native script.
The Google Transliteration IME was developed at Indian R&D center in Bangalore which is available in 14 languages like Arabic, Bengali, Farsi (Persian), Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
For the time being, the IME engine is compatible with Windows 7/Vista/XP and can be downloaded for free. The tool also has features like personalized choices, word completion, quick search, easy-to-use keyboard and various other neccessary required options.
The IME enables businesses, students and teachers to author content and share views in their local languages and also helps users to use the feature with Gmail, Orkut, Blogger and Knol.
Google Operating System has reported that Google Brazil website is showcasing an interesting Orkut screenshot on the Chrome section.
The screenshot showcases a different version of their Orkut social networking service.
Maybe, its a sign that a major overhaul to the user interface of Orkut is coming in the coming weeks.
Orkut is not very popular on the web. Bulk of its users are located in two markets India and Brazil. With Facebook targeting Orkut members in these two countries, Google has little incentive to keep on innovating. Looks like they are not giving up yet.
I have found Google’s Orkut to be always different for some or the other reason. It is generally considered as a place for friends groups to chit-chat. But never have i thought about it as a link sharing or a social media sort of website. Now as many people might have noticed, Orkut has announced a new feature that lets you promote your content to your friends firstly and then they can share it with their group of networks. It is called as “Orkut Promote”.
Here, you can share links, photos and also videos to your friends using this new and valuable feature. Your content gets promoted in your friends circle on Orkut network. If your friends like it, they can “spread it” among their group of friends. In addition to this, you can actively keep a track on your promotions as in how many people shared or clicked on your promoted content links, etc. Its that simple.
So, in making a similar feature as to Twitter, is Orkut trying now to imitate Twitter?
You can also view the help video below that will explain you the way to use the content promote.
It is a really cool feature that Google orkut has started. Anyone with a orkut account can use this feature. People who have a personal blog or website can also take advantage of this feature in promoting your products or services thorugh Google Orkut promote.
We shall also keep a track on this new feature by Google orkut and keep you updated of any news.
With the growing market of internet users in the country, India has become a battlefield for social networks. Google-owned Orkut has long been the most popular social network in India, with Facebook fighting to catch up. But Facebook has been upping the ante over the past few months, and according to August’s ComScore numbers, the plan may be working. In August, Orkut’s unique visitors in India dipped by 800,000 within a month, from 16 million visitors in July to 15.2 million visitors in August. On the other hand, Facebook grew its unique visitors in India by 700,000, from 7.5 million visitors in July to 8.2 million visitors in August.
This the largest drop in unique visitors Orkut has seen in India over the past year, while Facebook has been steadily growing each month. In fact, Facebook’s audience in India is up 228 percent from a year ago, compared to a 35 percent annual gain for Orkut.
There are a couple of key factors that could be attributed to Orkut’s recent drop in visitors. First, in India, Facebook has been pushing out an aggressive campaign on its social network to get users to import their friends from Orkut with a special Orkut import tool. It basically lets them find friends on other social networks, like Orkut, who are also on Facebook and makes it easy to send a friend requests to those contacts. The purpose of the tool is to make it easy for users to quickly find new friends and establish their social presence on Facebook. The social network offers this in the U.S. for Gmail, AIM and other contact platforms. But this new tool in India is for Orkut specifically. Facebook users are also seeing is the Orkut contact importer in Brazil, Orkut’s home base and stronghold where Facebook is clawing for market share.
Another reason for Facebook’s growth in India could be the recent launch of Facebook Lite. India was one of the original target markets for the lightweight version of the social network, since it is particularly useful in developing countries where high speed Internet connections are sparse or non-existent.
Facebook has been eying India’s huge market and steadily adding features that help the social network establish its reach in the growing country. For example, Facebook launched availability for several Indian languages including Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam, in May of this year.
It’s plainly obvious that Facebook is growing fast in India and could quite possibly overtake Orkut in the next few months. Meanwhile, other social networks are dropping like flies in the race; with Yahoo shutting down SpotM and MySpace considering layoffs in India because of the its lack of traction among users.
