Manikarthik.com

Sometimes technology can be frustrating. When I was trying to read some malayalam blogs, that’s exactly what happened.

While some of the showed fonts automatically, some of them simply won’t show up, rather show me only the title in malayalam with garbled text on the browser (I’m on Firefox and Mac OS X).

Doing some Googling, and after installing numerous “tweaks” and “emulators” found this wicked browser that will automatically detect the font (malayalam, chinese and the huge list they have) and display perfectly.

It’s called iCab and you can download it from here. It’s a German website so I guess, it’s made by Germans. Must salute them!
It’s free with a nagging screen as a shareware, but I bought it for USD 25, and I think it is completely worth that money.

Just wondering, who could be the mallu guy who might have helped on this project?

Just came across this thread today. A classic example for malayalam bloggers on content theft, what mistakes we do and how to deal with it (or rather not to).

I have no inclinations to any of the parties in the picture and neither know either of them but, clearly this is a clear example of ignorance from both the parties.

The accused here is Kerals.com who is said to have copied content from malayalam blogs. And the complaint is raised by Injipennu.

If you analyze the situation, there are mistakes right from the start, so I’m not surprised to see it took off a wild flight and crashed down.

Mistakes from the bloggers side (of interest to us)

- When a content theft complaint is made, please use your original contact and genuine details and not a profile name/screen name.
Here, the blogger sent an email complaining about the theft in her screen name, which implies that even though her claim is true, the accused doesn’t have to reply to it. Because, the genuine details are missing. Remember that the accused is a larger reputed firm.

- Although it is good to send email requests on content theft, please collect all the evidence and send them along.
Here, had the lady sent the email with the evidences, things would’ve achieved a bit more clarity right from first. (Note that she had only sent the copied URLs and not the original source)

- Google is not whom such complaints should be reported to.
Google is not going to help you in this case, but there are other bodies who will.

- If you don’t get a satisfactory response from the company (accused), please contact a lawyer.

What are the steps to take when you find someone copying your content?

1. Gather evidence.
   - Go to Google and type site:yoursite.com. Find out where the article comes, click on the “cached” link (next to the URL) and it will take you to a page that tells the time when Google found your site.
   - Go to Google and type site:copiersaddress.com (Or give in the URL of copied content if you know). Find out the article and see the cached date for it too.
   - It’s great if the copied content was indexed by Google after yours, because that is the first and foremost evidence that your content was published first.
2. Send a polite email to the author.
   Tell him the issue. Give the evidences and tell him firmly that if this is a mistake, please take the content down. When you sent threatening emails, it may go to the wrong hands and they may take you wrong.
   In this case, the complaint email was answered by a guy who probably didn’t have a clue about anything. It could be the copy writer who might have stolen the content, while the CEO may not have any idea about it.
3. If they don’t give a satisfactory response.
   Send a DMCA complaint letter to the host. Send an email with the following details to the webhost.
   - Your full contact details.
   - The site in question.
   - The site and URL of copied and original content.
   - A signed copy of the email (Fax or Send it by post)
   - If you are sending to Google, send a copy of the complaint with your signature.
4. If the accused website has AdSense, report fraud/content theft to Google.
   - Click on their AdSense ads below or top end where it says “Ads by Google”.
   - On the page that appears, there’ll be a text below that says “Give feedback on the site you just saw”
   - You can report fraud there by selecting “Report Violation”, and giving in the necessary details.

Additionally, you can use all the online tools, like this to find information about the host and the author, and contact them directly with the help of a lawyer.

Many a times, bigger firms like the one in the example will take notice of this and remove duplicate content, as it could come in without the care takers notice. A mere “Creative Common” license cannot help you in this aspect, as the validity of it with respect to law is very limited. It is only an agreement with a group that if broken can be “tagged” as violation, but you can’t sue anyone using it.

So essentially, it’d be good if bloggers make sure that Google indexes their content quickly and more often, so that you can show it as evidence against copy cats. If you fail in that, there’s very little the law can help you out.

It’s a pity that some firms (even claiming of 10 years experience in the industry) don’t realize the severity of content theft, and end up being like this.

Image courtesy – Tampa Bay

A question many people are confused about. Right?

Google AdSense seems to be the most popular “online monetization” tool available today on the Internet and for Indians…..we love AdSense!

To be honest, my opinions on AdSense isn’t very comfy. It’s a fact that I use it on many of my blogs, and probably that’s the only reliable, working option for bloggers from India, when it comes to getting paid for blogging.

But the whole “Add AdSense and start getting money” is more a hype than fact.

The reasons are many.

- AdSense is probably the easiest setup you can have to put your blog on “make money” mode.
- Once it is set up, bloggers highly rely on it.
- There is some calculation that goes behind AdSense, which many ignores because it’s confusing.
- Many bloggers try it just because they “heard” that someone is making money from it. Like Amit Agarwal?

Why AdSense won’t work?

- AdSense works well ONLY for high traffic websites.

- AdSense WILL NOT work well on regional blogs because, it relies on gathering information from the blogs, and throwing up ads corresponding to that content.
Ex: – If you blog on “Ice cakes”, AdSense might throw ads on “Confectionaries and Bakeries” (provided they have advertisers in that domain).
From my experience I’ve found that if you use regional content, the only kind of ads that’ll show up are “Hotels and Vacations”, “Kerala Real Estate ads”, and the generic ads. These ads of extremely low payout. That is if someone clicks on it, you’ll probably get around 10 cents. While, for certain ads like “Real Estate Ohio”, you may get 2 dollars for a click.

- AdSense caters best to search engine traffic, not regular readers who reads a short story blog.

This is how it works. (Some top technology blogs in the country who boasts of high payouts from AdSense works the same way)

People searching for information on the search engines like Google ==> Finds the blog from the title ==> Drops there and looks for information ==> May or maynot find information, but also finds relevant ads, which are clicked ==> Author gets paid.

So basically, these blogs write content that are searched mostly on the search engines like Google. So they can get hold of the search engine traffic.

Now, there is also a strategy that can be employed here. Write attractive titles, so that people searching for information on the search engines click on your site and land there. But regarding information, keep t limited. That is, don’t give all the information possible on the blog, so that people who are looking for information will also notice the ads and click on them.

This cannot work with regional blogs unless they write content that is search engine friendly.

- AdSense also is a bad choice for monetization because, you are relying on just one option for money. If that source shuts off, you are doomed.

I’m pretty much convinced that AdSense won’t work on this blog of mine, because the content is not “tailored’ for AdSense. And I have no interest in monetizing this blog, in the first place. Let it remain plain, simple and cool as always.
Image courtesy: Blogoscoped

I’m fascinated by the number of blogging enthusiasts available today in Kerala (Saw it here and numerous blogrolls)! From what I’ve seen so far, the quality of blogs from keralites (both in and outside kerala) are outstanding.

As a matter of fact, out of all the blogs, almost all of them are “Natural bloggers” – They have a passion on one of their chosen subjects, and they are spontaneous. While blogging is seen as a reliable source of income, in countries like U.S, and even in other states of India, it’s yet to catch up in Kerala, and I think it’s completely natural.

From my perspective, I think that’s fantastic. Because, I believe that commercial blogs (even some of my blogs) which are aimed at making money online, fail in delivering quality and readable content. (Of course, they make money and I earn a living on it.) While I’d summarize the differences as similar to that between a commercial movie and parallel cinema, the differences are obvious.

Just to list out, these are a few points that interested me.

Characteristics of commercial blogs

1. They write for the masses (keeping in mind the traffic).
2. They deliver more content, more frequently.
3. They don’t have a “sticky” nature.
4. They don’t deliver quality, but write because they have to.
5. They align more towards a “one night stand” school of thought and not a lifetime relationship.
6. They’re in plenty.
7. They fail in creating an impression.
8. They have smaller posts/content.
9. They get less feedback.
10. They make money.

Characteristics of passion blogs

1. They write for the class, for the avid reader.
2. They deliver less frequent content but whenever they make one, they leave an impression.
3. They are very “sticky”.
4. They are focused on quality.
5. They prefer long term relationship with the reader.
6. They’re lesser in number.
7. They leave an impression to the reader.
8. They have longer posts, better content.
9. They get regular feedback, often constructive.
10. They may not make money.

So, the differences are clear. If you are a blogger, you most definitely should fall into either one of these categories. Or else, you have two options. Be a worn out blogger, being no where..Or two – be a successful blogger, amalgamating the two sides well. A tough one but.

Shame, is it not?

The TV9 reporter received the threating call from a number – 091118809 on his cellphone, giving indications of the possible bomb blasts in Kerala (News article). And I’m wondering why is it not possible to trace out the number?

Speculations are that this is an internet telephone number, so could it be from Skype or other calling programs? If so, would it not be possible for the IB to contact the companies and trace them out?

Now, come on’ spoofing, masking whatever you call it, we have the brains to crack that. Or so we all believe.

It’s pathetic that we weren’t able to trace back the call, had we been able to, at least some of the mayhem yesterday at Cochin could’ve been avoided.

Just did a Google search on this and found that there are lot of programs available that will help you trace out unlisted phone numbers and IPs. And there are also lot of “reverse directories” available, so even if we may not find the exact end point, wouldn’t it be possible to trace the route?

Now come on’ dude.. what lives are we living?

Techies out there? Any clues?

I just spotted some lovely posts from the blogosphere and could not resist linking to them. Am sure you’ll enjoy them.

Santosh Kumar wrote a pretty hilarious post on buffaloes, yamraj, beef and all those threads within. Check it out.

Arun T who’s blog I’ve followed to read on many up to date events writes a small snippet about the soon to come solar eclipse in Russia/China. I bet many of us wouldn’t have even heard of it.

Cris writes a touching post on little girls being abused recently in Kerala and their fate.

This one’s interesting. Keralaviews writes about the “invisible” rains in Kerala. I’m sure we all would’ve thought about it. On one side, Govt. says that there is a shortage of rain, and on another day they open the dam shutters, due to excess and rising water levels. Huh?
I’ve often wondered, if Kerala complains of water shortage, what the hell is happening to TN and Bihar? There’s definitely something that’s missing here.