Get the new Facebook Profile!

Facebook is rolling out the new Profile Page. Timeline, they call it. If you want to watch Mark Zuckerberg announcing the new Facebook Profile, go here! After a few weeks from now, you will have a brand new Facebook Profile.

Now, are you some one who is always eager to try new things first? And you badly want to  get your hands dirty with the New Facebook Profile, before any of your friends do? Sure, there is a way to do just that. Here are the steps:

1. If you are signed into Facebook already, click here. The link will take you to Facebook Developers Page.   Alternatively, you can head straight to Facebook and type "Developer" in the search box to get to the Facebook Developers Page. 
2. Once you are on the Facebook Developers Page, click on the "Create New App" button. This will open a Facebook Dialogue Box. (Do not worry about creating an application, because it is not going to show up anywhere)
3. Type a name (For example "abcdefgh") in the App Display Name Box. 
4. Type a name (For example "abcdfgh") in the App Namespace. Make sure that you type a name without capital letter and it has more than seven characters.
5. Click the dialogue box: "I agree to the Platform Privacy Policy"
6. Click the continue button on the dialogue box. This will open a captcha. Fill in the captcha and click on the submit button. The submission will take a while, depending on the speed of your data connection
7.  Once the Application Page is created, find out the link "Open Graph" on the page. 
8. Once you are on the Open Graph Page, you will find two text boxes to type a verb and a noun. So, go ahead and type a  verb and a noun and click on the "Get Started" button. For example, you can type 'read' as your verb and 'book' as your verb.
9. This will open the "Action Type" page. Scroll down the page and click on the "Save Changes and Next" Button
10. This will take you to the "Object Type" Page. Again, scroll down and click the ""Save Changes and Next" Button
11. This will take you to "Timeline Aggregation" Page.  Again, scroll down and click the "Save and Finish"Button and you are ready to go. 
12. Now that you are done with the Open Graph, head back to www.facebook.com. Facebook will open a dialogue box that asks you if you want to try out the new Facebook Profile Page. Go ahead and tell them you want to and you shall get it! 

Type and Read Malayalam on Android (Samsung Galaxy Phones)

Are you looking for a way to read and type Malayalam on your Android Phone? Here is a solution!

Opera Mini is a great source of comfort for people who want to read Malayalam on their Android Phone. Type "opera:config" in the address bar and change "Use bitmap for complex scripts" into "Yes" and you are ready to go. Now, that is good enough to read Malayalam on Opera Mini Web Browser. But what about those people who want to read and type in Malayalam, no matter what Application they are using?

Android does not provide any support for Malayalam. However, there is a workaround if you want to read Malayalam and type in Malayalam using your Android Phone, if you are using a Samsung Galaxy Phone. Following are the steps you need to follow, if you would like to do that, if you are using a Samsung Galaxy device:

1. Download "Font for Galaxy SP" (Fontomizer) from the Android Market
2. Go to your Settings > Applications > and make sure that Unknown Sources is checked. Checking Unknown Sources allows you to install Android Applications from sources other than market.
3. Download "Akshar Unicode" from "Font for Galaxy SP" and install on your phone. "Font for Galaxy SP"  lists fonts in alphabetical order. Click on alphabet "A" to download Akshar Unicode font
4.  After installing Akshar Unicode, go to Settings > Display > Font Style and select Akshar as your display font.
5. Download PaniniKeypadMalayalam IME from the Android Market
6. After installing PaniniKeypad Malayalam IME, go to Settings > Locale and text and check PaniniKeypad Malayalam so that the key board is enabled on your phone
7. Now, when ever you want to type in Malayalam, long-press on your text box and choose PaniniKeypad Malayalam as your input

Remember: Akshar Unicode is not that evolved a font. Malayalam may not render as good as it does on your computer. However, something is better than nothing.

Remember: Fontomizer works only on Samsung Galaxy devices. I have not tested this workaround on any other device than Galaxy. If it does not work on your Galaxy Phone, it is probably because of the Android fragmentation issue. The fonts from Fontomizer are based on Flipfont library. Now if your phone has Flipfont function, it may work on your phone even if it is not a Galaxy device. [Try and let me know, please!]

I hope Android will soon start supporting Malayalam Font in its full glory and we will be able to seamlessly type in Malayalam and read Malayalam without much stress.

Note: This workaround will not void your warranty as you are not rooting the phone or unlocking the boot loaders when you install a font from Fontomizer. If you have a rooted phone and do not care about warranty , I suggest you to download a Malayalam .ttf font like Karthika or Meera and replace your Droidsansfallback.ttf with it.

Update Again:  looks like Fontomizer has more Malayalam  fonts than Akshar. Check out!