E-mail notification for new or updated Google Wave

A few days back, this feature was introduced in Google Wave. This new feature allows you to setup E-mail notifications for new Waves and updated Waves i.e. new and updated Blips or messages in a Wave.

To enable E-mail notifications, login into Google Wave. Move your mouse over Inbox (on the left). Click on the Arrow (pointing downwards) and select Notifications.

Microsoft Tag Reader for Android

What is Microsoft Tag? In simple words, Microsoft Tag allows you to store information in images (Tags). More on Microsoft Tag can be found here. My excitement about Microsoft Tag is, the Tag Reader app is now available for Android phones.  

I own an Android Dev Phone 1 (a.k.a. ADP1). It was just today that Microsoft Tag Reader app for Android was announced. The Tag Reader app allows to scan, extract and store information in Microsoft Tags using the phone’s camera.

Android: How to change the Google Account without a hard reset

I own an Android Dev Phone 1, also called ADP1. The phone prompted to setup a Google Account as the very first step, before I can start using it. For the Google Account, I used my credentials for Google Apps Standard Edition , though I also have a regular GMail account.

I supply my Google Apps credentials each time I wipe off (hard reset) the phone. Though optional, I wipe off the phone’s data whenever I update my phone with a new ROM. Following the official and non official upgrades, I’m currently running CyanogenMod 4.2.14.1 on my ADP1.

Then came a day when I did not want to wipe off the data but only wanted to change the Google Account associated with the phone.

Google Buzz on maps in Android

It was the morning of 10th February, when I got to know that Google Buzz is rolling out to users. Was disappointed to not to spot it in my Google Apps (Standard) and in my GMail. Learnt that Google Buzz also works on Google Maps on mobile phones.

I guessed that it would require a Google Maps upgrade on the phone. Instantly fired Android Market on my Android Dev Phone 1 (a.k.a. ADP1), clicked on the Downloads tab and was greeted by an available upgrade to Google Maps – Google Maps version 4.0.0. Opted to install the upgrade hoping to spot the Buzz on the maps but alas – it wasn’t a smooth sail.

Use Google Wave to Blog

I have been thinking about this idea ever since I started playing with Google Wave. How about creating a blog post by embedding Waves – one for the post and the other for comments. The former Wave will be editable only by me, while the latter will be editable by anyone (with a Google Wave account).

A blog post using Google Wave for content and comments

This became possible, recently, with the introduction of the read-only access feature. I created a blog post with a Wave talking about the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Google Wave and a blank (to start with) Wave for comments. Click here to see this blog post. This was achieved as follows:

Frequently Asked Questions about Google Wave

The content of this blog post comes from Google Wave. You will need a Google Wave account to view or post comments. The best way to view this post is to first login into your Google Wave account and then goto/refresh this page.

Refer to this post on how to use Google Wave for blog posts and comments on your own WordPress powered blog.

Official WordPress app for Android

After having played with wpToGo app (though for a very short time), the announcement of an official WordPress app for Android phones caught my attention. These apps allow you to manage your blog posts and comments from your Android phone.

I fired Android Market on my phone, searched for “wordpress” and the official app was right at the top, proudly named as WordPress, just WordPress. Yea, that’s indeed the official app!

Kindle to India: Frequently Asked Questions

I ordered an Amazon Kindle for a friend of mine.  Before ordering the Kindle, there were various doubts and apprehensions about it’s functionality, cost and shipping to India. It took me numerous Google searches to conclude that Kindle is a safe and good buy for someone in India.

You cannot browse the Web using Kindle (Global Wireless) in India. Image source: Wikipedia.org

Subsequently, I placed an order on behalf of my friend and the Kindle was shipped to New Delhi, India to my residence in about 2 days. I got to setup, configure and play with this nifty device, before I could hand it over to my friend.

Web Scraping with Firefox and PHP, using XPath

Last year, I faced two projects which required automated Web scrapping – to aggregate content from web pages. I evaluated different methods for Web scraping with varied level of success. Thanks to the changing structure of Web pages, non well-formed pages and URL redirects.

Amongst using regular expressions and DOM (Document Object Model) parsing, I used XPath too. XPath works great for well-formed Web pages.

Read Only Google Wave

I have been using Google Wave, ever since I got the developer sandbox access in July 2009. Subsequently, I got the invite for the Google Wave Preview. I started putting Google Wave into an obvious use - documentation. For example: I wrote a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about Google Wave itself.

But hell broke loose, when I made the Wave “public”. While it was thrilling to see the comments of the participants, the Wave no longer looked like an organized list of questions and answers. Thanks to the blips (messages) from others inserted in between. What I wanted then, is launched now by Google – Read-only participants.