Yahoo has agreed to work with Google and MySpace to promote a common set of software standards to make it easier to create applications for Internet social networks, the companies announced Tuesday.

The companies said they are forming a non-profit OpenSocial Foundation to promote the OpenSocial software standards that Mountain View-based Google announced in October.

"Before OpenSocial, if a developer built a 'favorite photos' application to work on one social network, it would have to be built all over again to work on another site," the companies said in a press release.

"OpenSocial tackles this problem at its technology roots, providing common 'plumbing' that lets social applications run on many different Web sites without requiring duplicate work from either developers or the Web sites."

Wade Chambers, vice president of platforms for Sunnyvale-based Yahoo, predicted that OpenSocial "will fuel innovation and make the Web more relevant and more enjoyable to millions of users."

Promoting OpenSocial makes sense for the three companies, according to Gartner Research analyst Ray Valdes, who tracks social networks.

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The city has not limited its interests just to cycles and hosiery. It seems Ludhiana has welcomed the internet bug with open arms.
According to the latest data, there are nearly 800 communities on Orkut which are related to Ludhiana in some or the other way.

The communities range from Sarabha Nagar market to those of various schools, from coffee lovers of Ludhiana to those who love Ansal Plaza.

Then there are the shady ones like Beautiful Ludhiana girls, night life@Ludhiana, Ludhiana dating and cool friends Ludhiana.

There is a community on Ishmeet, Art of Living, Ludhiana rappers, Book Club and Sardari Club.

The cheekiest of the lot is undoubtedly a community called Risky Drivers of Ludhiana.

Jasmine Khurana, who is a regular visitor in cyberspace, says, “I am hooked. I study in Delhi but some of the Orkut communities keep me updated on what is happening in my hometown”.

Says Sandeep Jain, a student of St Thomas Public School, “These communities are just the right way to stay in touch with all my schoolmates”.

And what about those who are not registered on any of the communities.

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Online social networks have been a fad for some time now. But, before you leave some more smart scraps on the global social networks, beware of the bugs. The pesky malicious mails and spams have hit the social networking sites and could potentially sour your relationship (both online and offline!) with that someone special in the virtual world.

Your love for scrapping and watching videos Orkut, a social networking site, may end up sending malicious mails from your login to anyone. A worm named Scrapkut is fast targeting Orkut users.

Taking note of the problem, the cyber security wing of the department of information technology (DIT) has suggested all Orkut users refrain from downloading any links posted on Orkut. A malicious scrap message is posted to victim’s scrapbook containing a fake link to YouTube video looking as if it is from a known member of its friend list. When the victim clicks on the link, it’s redirected to some malicious website which prompts you to download the file “flashx_player_9.8.0.exe” disguised as a flash upgrade. And the victims whole system comes under the virus attack. The active Orkut virus was tracked on Friday last week while other viruses have been active on several other social networks for a few weeks now.

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"Hey, are you the same Shivangi di, who has bowled Irfan over? If you are, then listen. I am a great fan of his. Please, please take care of him. I guess you are lucky for him and I don't mind if you guys are together."

And this is just one of the loads of scraps Shivangi Dev has been receiving on her Orkut profile, ever since it was reported that she holds a special place in Irfan Pathan's life.

Of course, not everyone is as generous towards her. There are those who are downright jealous and accuse Irfan of philandering. No points for guessing that those who disapprove of the relationship are mostly girls! In fact, she is getting scraps from across the globe, including Pakistan.

"Hi, I met Irfan personally and he talked about Shivangi. I didn't know whether it was you," wrote an Ahmedabad based girl. "Irfan had only three things in his life - God, cricket and his family. And now you are the fourth thing to be in his life. I know Irfan bhai as he is my senior and, believe me, you can't get someone better than him. Enjoy life with him," reads another message from While I Can Love.

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While millions continue to log into social networking sites like Orkut and Facebook to make friends and socialise, a small but growing number of individuals are also logging on to share not only their personal problems but also to find solutions for them.

Social networking sites are are increasingly taking the shape of the new age online 'agony aunt'.

"Orkut has been a great strength of support for me. I had lost all faith in destiny till I logged on to a kidney transplant community where people with similar problems pepped me up by writing down their experiences," says Sarath Kumar from Hyderabad.

Sarath, who is looking out for a kidney donor for himself adds, "They were people who told me what to do, what all precautions I should take and even suggested names of some good doctors that I could get in touch with."

The popularity of such networking sites turning out to be the agony aunt can be gauged from the hundreds of help communities that have been set up, be it from complex issues like kidney transplants, blood cancer to much smaller issues like teenage heart breaks.

Not only do these communities attract a large number of members who indulge in periodical discussions to offer help to the one seeking, many also take part in these discussions as non members.

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You know you are one important social-networking site when hacker write a worm just for you. Judging by this logic, Orkut is more than special, with a second worm roaming now free between the site's users. Dubbed W32.Scrapkut, the worm uses active code injection to spread between victims and their friends on Orkut. It all starts with a malicious scrap posted to the victim’s scrapbook, with a link to a YouTube video.

The soon-to-be-victim clicks the link and then he is prompted to install what it looks like a flash player upgrade (“flashx_player_9.8.0.exe”), from an external site. When installed, the file injects malicious Javascript code into their next active Orkut web session and the malicious scrapbook entry is sent to all his friends.

At present time, over 13,000 users have already been infected, and the numbers more than likely to go much higher if Google (the owner of Orkut) doesn't step in with a quick fix.

Last December, another worm made it into the accounts of over 655,000 Orkut users before Google could take care of it.

An analysis on the W32.Scrapkut is available on Symantec's site. According to it, you need not worry for the time being, as the malware seems to be interested only in spreading itself.

The computer is personal again and now even your virtual personality will be tamperproof.

Popular social networking site Orkut now offers better privacy for your videos, those-oh-so mushy testimonials and behold, that much-used and abused scrapbook.

Is this a sudden awakening to the gross misuse of the website? Or is it a face off with Facebook?

Orkut users are more than happy with the new features. After all, it means less eavesdropping on personal conversations and Orkut puts it, ''no more anonymous friendship requests''. But with a large number of users shifting to rival Facebook, is it too little too late?

Although Orkut still enjoys first mover advantage and has a large penetration even in tier-two cities, a large slice of urban Internet users are finding Facebook a better place to network for the sheer number of features it offers.

But with no way to assess the number of active users on each portal, looks like the Orkut versus Facebook debate will continue to rage.

Pune, February 23 Life has turned bizarre for class 12 student Rakesh Kanojia (name changed) ever since his cell phone number was posted on Orkut on Valentine’s Day saying it belonged to Jasmine - a call girl. Since then, Kanojia started receiving calls from different parts of the country and even abroad soliciting the services of Jasmine.

“I receive at least 25 calls a day, most of them during the night. My exams are scheduled on February 29. The lewd and lurid calls are cutting into my study time,” said Kanojia, a resident of Wanavdi. It’s all the more difficult as he goes to a night school and works during the day.

Sudam Choure, adviser of the Pune police cyber committee, said, “There are many who are facing a similar problem. Many more are likely to be affected in the future. Kanojia has done well by going to the police. There are many who avoid the police and just change their cell numbers.”

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Their paths crossed once in a while. Quick glances were exchanged. This trackside colony in busy Dadar (east) does not give two shy people much more leeway than that.

Left to themselves, Gauri Sambrani and Ronil Sheth (names changed) would have remained just neighbours.

But then there is that simple twist of fate. And Orkut.

Ronil was surprised to find Gauri on a friend’s profile on the social networking site and added her to his profile. “It began from there,” says Ronil, 21.

After two months of chatting online, they met at a Ganesh festival party in the colony but still did not speak. The next day — independently — they both sent a ‘crush’ request on Orkut. “It was amazing that we sent the request the same day,” said Gauri, 20. “After that, we began sending mushy messages and had the first date soon after.” Both are seriously involved now.

“The Internet is great for people who are shy or introverted,” says Ronil.

The computer is personal again and now even your virtual personality will be tamperproof.

Popular social networking site Orkut now offers better privacy for your videos, those-oh-so mushy testimonials and behold, that much-used and abused scrapbook.

Is this a sudden awakening to the gross misuse of the website? Or is it a face off with Facebook?

Orkut users are more than happy with the new features. After all, it means less eavesdropping on personal conversations and Orkut puts it, ''no more anonymous friendship requests''. But with a large number of users shifting to rival Facebook, is it too little too late?

Although Orkut still enjoys first mover advantage and has a large penetration even in tier-two cities, a large slice of urban Internet users are finding Facebook a better place to network for the sheer number of features it offers.

But with no way to assess the number of active users on each portal, looks like the Orkut versus Facebook debate will continue to rage.