GROU.PS Lets You Create Your Own Private Facebook

Social groupware platform GROU.PS has just introduced several new features, the most notable of which is a Facebook template called “theBook” that lets you create your own private network with the same look and feel as Facebook.

According to GROU.PS founder Emre Sokullu, the use of the template has already increased the engagement rates within groups by over 50%.

The template’s addition was inspired by one of the company’s private groups, Lagbook, which uses a similar template to create an African-based social networking site. The group grew to 35,000 members in just six months, Sokullu said, after implementing this design.

There will be “social” designs on their way in the future, to complement the Facebook template. However, the upcoming templates will be more original, admits Sokullu.

I’m Sorry, But is that Legal?

Of course, our first question, in seeing this new “theBook” template was about copyright issues. After all, isn’t that Facebook’s design?

Sokullu said he didn’t think there would be a problem. Zuckerberg is a friend, he joked. In all honesty, he believes that the Facebook design is so ubiquitous now, it should be considered public domain. We’re not so sure Facebook will agree.

But if there’s a problem, Sokulla said he will pull it.

Hmm, copying Facebook…sounds like a way to get some easy press. Oops!

White Label Mobile App

GROU.PS also just launched a mobile application generator for use by its over 200,000 social network creators. The mobile platform is available to those on the company’s $29.95/month Platinum plan.

The app, which is like a white-labelled Beluga or GroupMe, lets members post status updates, chat, share photos, check in to venues, see who’s nearby and more. Members can also login using their Facebook account for easy access.

A future release will add support for events and push notifications.

For now, the white label option is available on Android and BlackBerry only. The iPhone/iPad app is branded “GROU.PS” instead.

GROU.PS has undergone several transformations in recent months. Last fall, it acquired Flux Networks, which runs Social Project, the backbone for many brands’ social platforms including MTV, Comedy Central, The Daily Show, Atom and TeenNick. It also repositioned itself as a SaaS business and introduced premium pricing plans.

The company, backed by Golden Horn Ventures, now has over 9 million registered users worldwide and more than 5 million monthly uniques.  It also just completed an undisclosed round of financing.

You can learn more about GROU.PS here.

Apple will reportedly re-launch unlocked iPhone 3GS in India

Indian website IT Pro says it's heard from Apple that the company will be relaunching the iPhone 3GS in an unlocked model to keep up with Indian demand for an Apple handheld. Back when the 3GS was first introduced in India, it was only available through a few carriers. Now, demand for iPhones is so high that Apple is simply going to relaunch the old model, this time allowing anyone to use it on any carrier in India.

IT Pro notes Apple is being a little sketchy here by selling such an old phone as new ("India has become a dumping ground for Apple," they say), but Indian customers will probably be happy with the option to get an unlocked iPhone 3GS, as iPhone 4 units are still very hard to find.

Price is another concern. The iPhone 4 in India costs the equivalent of about US$760, so a cheaper option will be popular even if it's a bit slower and clunkier. The iPhone 3GS still won't run cheap; the price is set at 19,990 rupees, or about $444.

Sharing Instagram photos on Google+ automatically

Instagram (free) is a lot of fun, although it's often criticized as being the "auto-tune for photography." Google+ is the new social networking flavor of the week, so it's natural that the two services should get together. Wired's Gadget Lab has cooked up a recipe for more Instagram enjoyment by hacking a method of joining the two in unholy matrimony, as well as providing other fun hints.

Before I divulge their other hints, let's get to the meat of the matter for those of you who are among the Google+ cognoscenti: getting your Instagrams to Google's Picasa photo sharing site so they can be shared on Google+. Yeah, hopefully this is added to Instagram in the near future. For the present, this is how you do it, folks.

To have all of your future Instagram photos sent immediately to Google+, blogger Charlie Sorrel has you set up Instadrop, which automagically connects your Instagram and Dropbox accounts. Send a photo out on Instagram, and it shows up in a Dropbox folder named Instagram Photos. Next, pick up a copy of the free Picasa app for Mac. From the File menu, select "Add Folder to Picasa" and point it at your new Instagram Photos folder on Dropbox.

The next step is to have Picasa watch that folder all the time. There's one fly in the ointment here -- this means that if you want true real-time updating of Picasa / Google+, your Mac has to be up and running continuously. Go to Tools > Folder Manager in Picasa, select the Instagram Photos folder, and then tell Picasa to "Scan Always." Finally, find the folder in the sidebar of Picasa, click on it, and then select "Enable Sync" from the Share drop-down in the main menu.

That's it. Send a photo to Instagram, and through this complex chain of events the image eventually makes it to Google+, where it is re-shared and commented on by thousands of your friends and complete strangers.

Sorrel has some other great tips in the post, including using your "real" camera to take photos, transferring them to an iPad using the Apple Camera Connection Kit, and then zapping them to Instagram. He also recommends the $1.99 Instaplus app to have much more control over the camera and filters.

Post to Google+ on your iPhone using DoAT

Reading something interesting on your iPhone and frustrated you can't easily post it to Google+? Now there's a solution that takes some of the pain out of using Google+ on the iPhone. No, it's not the native client from Google. It's DoAT, a content aggregating and reading app.

DoAT is one of the first iOS apps to support sharing with Google+. There is no official API support yet, so DoAT uses a little hackery to get around this limitation. It uses the mobile web version of Google+ and inserts both the name of the page you are viewing and the link automatically. It's easier than doing it manually, and DoAT is a fun app if you haven't checked it out yet.