Google Plus opens up flood gates, 150 invites on each profile

Aug 112011
 

For all the Google Plus fans who were either craving to be a part of it or wanted to get all their friends in their circle, Google is finally taking steps to make your dream come true. In a welcome move by Google, Google made Google Plus ‘almost open’ to all.

Now each Google plus user is given 150 invites each, to invite each and every friend of his or her. With 150 invites at your disposal, you can almost get your whole facebook list transported. The kind of chain Google has planned to initiate, there will be a bulk of users on Google Plus now.

Google plus will see a much increased traffic from this point onwards. The website is no longer a beta version test site but instead has grown into a fully fledged social networking site. We can see a number of users migrating from facebook to Google plus. Also, the traffic will increase from now on, as new features are being made available.

There are two ways of inviting people to Google plus. The first one is by sending invites by mail, this was available before as well though the invites were limited. The second one is through a new invite page created by Google for its users which can be shared on any social networking platform such as Twitter, Facebook etc.

By maintaining the 150 limit, Google has given it a feel of still being limited. Though you have 150 invites and to consume up all of them will be one good task but generating more ways to send invites will be a cake walk from now.

With the present move, Google has made its latest social networking portal to be virtually open. With this move, Google plus does appear to be moving in the right direction.

Finally Google+ iPhone App has been Released to iTunes

Jul 192011
 

Well there is nothing really much to say except that Google+ app for iPhone has been released to iTunes, and you can download it via iTunes Link . Here is the thing! I was able to download the app and also use it for a bit, and then all of the sudden it started crashing on my iPhone!

Google+ for iPhone

I do know why! I am on iOS 5 Beta 2 and should upgrade to Beta 3 because from what I hear is that lots of people saw app improvement and less apps crashing. So far my 3 apps are not working correctly on iOS 5

Hulu Plus

Netflix

and now Google +

HTC Status Quick Review with Specs and Info

Jul 192011
 

Facebook Phone called HTC Status

Facebook, twice the juggernaut that Myspace once was, creator of fortunes, invader of privacy. The Social Networking website has continued to grow from its humble origins, a pissed off college kid’s method of taking revenge. Today, even smart phones have been outright designed for the ever addictive social networking site, with Android producer, HTC tapping into this lucrative market.

Platform Android™ 2.3 (Gingerbread) + HTC Sense™
Display HVGA 2.6-inch touch screen
with 480 x 320 resolution
Network Quad-band GSM/GPRS/
EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900
Memory 512 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
Processor MSM7227, 800 MHz
Battery Rechargeable lithium-ion battery, 1250 mAh
Camera 5 MP main camera with autofocus, VGA
front-facing camera

The HTC Status uses the Android 2.3 OS, Gingerbread. The relatively fast operating system is aided with excess proccessing power and memory to boot for a smartphone. A 2.6″ screen is a bit lacking however, with the smaller statuses and updates on sites such as Twitter and Facebook becoming near unreadable. On the plus side however, there are quite a few features which will advantage the typical Social Networking addict. Firstly, the QWERTY keyboard, while a slight curve in the device ensures that it can be held for longer periods, without causing hand or eyestrain.

While still being a solid phone, the limitations of the 2.6″ touchscreen really begin to show when playing touch dependent games, such as Fruit Slice, among others. This problem is exasperated with some applications being required to be used in portrait mode. Considering that the phone is permanently locked into a landscape orientation, it is likely that frustration will when trying to use certain applications that require a portrait orientation to be used. The phone features a tiny ‘F’ button, representing Facebook (obviously), and allows easy access to the application. Due to the convenient location of the button, generally users are more inclined to use this button, rather than actually tapping on the application, saving a few seconds here and there.

Two cameras, being front and back facing are slightly handy, when you need a new profile picture for example. However, unlike the iPhone 4, and not being an Apple product, the use of a front facing camera can’t be used to emulate Facetime yet. The last criticism is of the phone’s inability to play Facebook videos, something which hopefully should be rectified by Facebook themselves, or by HTC soon.

Being tiny, while featuring a maxi-keyboard favoring thumb-typers, and an ergonomic body that your artsy friends will appreciate, perhaps after the Facebook Video issue is fixed, the HTC Status might become a good secondary phone, or replacement for your aging iPhone.

 

Google+ iOS Edition

Jul 072011
 

Ever since Facebook became a deca-billion dollar construct, spawning companies which are worth billions of dollars in their own right (Zynga), there have been many attempts to dethrone this almighty social networking juggernaut. As we all know by now, Google+ is the Californian based company’s social network foray into the basically monopolized market. I’m not going into specifics here, but it basically looks like… Facebook, except, it’s not Facebook.

That’s not the point though. Currently, Google has just posted a Google+ application to the app store. It’s pending approval currently, while no approval process was necessary for the Android marketplace, for obvious reasons. Other information confirmed by Google, is that the application is not only for iPhones, iPod and iPad users can rejoice that they haven’t been forgotten by the search engine superpower.

Google is also releasing an Application Programming Interface for Google+, which will allow developers to create applications for Google+. Allowing software to interact with the service, as well as people, this API will certainly provide a greater amount of flexibility for users to exploit.

A couple of screenshots exhibit the features of Google+, including the much touted ‘Circles’ feature, where you can direct messages, and view messages only from particular social groups. There is also integration with Gmail, and GoogleTalk- perhaps a nice selling point about the social network in general.

In other news, remember that old site Myspace? The decaying site was just sold by its parent company for $35 million, a pittance compared to what it was originally worth. Even online newshub, ‘Huffington Post’ was sold for much much more. It serves as a reminder that perhaps, even Facebook might lose its grip on the Social Networking market.

Check out Google+ here

 

Skype comes to Facebook – group chat, video chat and many more goodies to come!

Jul 072011
 

Finally, the moment some Facebook users were anxiously waiting for, the announcement of the “awesome” feature that the social network was going to make available to it’s over 750 million users.
If you haven’t yet noticed, log on to your Facebook account, click on one of your contact’s names’ on Facebook chat and you will notice that you are now able to start video calls straight from the comfort of your browser. If you want to know how this works, click here to visit Facebook’s video calling portal and click on the “Get started” button to find out more.

 Skype for Facebook

 

It all started as rumors

At first it was nothing more than rumors, the fact that Skype the world’s most notable VOIP client was going to become integrated with the world’s most notable social network. As with all rumors, the more they’re repeated they end up becoming true. We shouldn’t forget the fact that Google+ also made this possible (Thanks Google!), forcing Facebook to step up their game to be able to compete with Google’s social network, which is proving to be quite popular.

Furthermore, apart from the introduction of Skype-enabled video chat, Zuckerberg also unveiled “group chat”, which is a cool add-on that allows users to hold conversation with multiple users on one window instead of having to open many chats, goodbye long status/comments!

There have been some talks by both Facebook and Skype on introducing “paid products” but no further information has been leaked on this matter. We can safely say that this partnership between the two companies is not likely to fade away anytime soon.

Some of you may be wondering whether video chat is available on mobile devices. Unfortunately, it isn’t…at least for the moment. When asked during the press conference, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg didn’t spill out any details to when this might become available but personally I predict it could take a while since the technology behind this is pretty “tough” to figure out and manage. It will happen but we it’s difficult to say when.

What’s next Zuckerberg? That’s a question many web gurus and “geeks” have been trying to find or work out but there are endless possibilities, we never know what the geniuses behind Facebook could come up with. Nevertheless, we can say that they’re doing a hell of a job and 1 billion users isn’t that far away now, Mark!

unfollow for Twitter Mac App Review

Jun 042011
 

Different people use Twitter in different ways. Some are very selective about who they follow and interact with – e.g, only the people who they actually know. Others, use it like an open chat service and follow basically everyone that they find interesting. There are numerous of different kinds of users and different kinds of purposes. One thing that some users encounter is that they end up following too many people and their timeline has become too difficult to keep up with. There are a number of websites/services that allow you to sort out and clean up your following list. But if you’re a Mac user and want a desktop application, take a look at ‘unfollow for Twitter’.

‘unfollow for Twitter‘ by Spicy Apps, is a Mac desktop application that makes it easier for you see (stalk? :P ) who unfollowed you, sort out or “weed” your Twitter following list. Its key features include:

  • load twitter users from your account into the app.
  • find inactive twitter users by selecting a filter.
  • select twitter users and batch unfollow them.

After you enter your Twitter account login details, you are presented with 2 viewing options.

  1. View your Twitter following list by last tweet.
  2. View those on your following list who does not follow you back.

Both viewing options will allow you to sort by username, no. of following, no. of followers, description (useless), location, tweet count and last tweet. You can also filter out the list according to time (weeks and months). However, one of the major drawbacks is that it can only list 100 users. According to the app’s help section, this is a limitation of Twitter’s servers as they only allow to load 100 users per call.

After loading your list, unfollow is quite simple. Just select the unfollow check-box next to the user and click the unfollow trash button. Of course, you can batch select users.

As you can see, there isn’t anything too special about this app. It doesn’t have the fancy bells and whistles but it does what’s it’s meant to do. ‘unfollow for Twitter’ is available in the Mac Apps Store for $$0.99. Find it in the Mac App Store here.

There’s also an iPhone / iPod Touch version of the app version, which has received lots of positive feedback (4.5 out of 5 stars in the iTunes Apps Store out of 229 ratings). MWD also has a review of the iPhone / iPod Touch version of ‘unfollow for Twitter’ app here.

Google +1 Button Embed Feature Coming Tomorrow!

May 312011
 

Google +1 Button

It is not official yet but Google +1 Button is going to be released tomorrow, you will be able to embed Google +1 button into your blog or website. I am not much thrilled about Google +1 button but it’s a good indication that button will have an impact on how much traffic you should be getting from Google, as well as the rank for certain keywords

Google +1 Button Example :

If you go to Google.com and search for MWD, you will notice that oclue.com can not be found on the first page but rather on the second page, so let’s say tomorrow when Google +1 button comes out, 50 people click on oclue.com because MWD should be tied to oclue.com. Few weeks go by and Google will notice that 50 people liked oclue.com for MWD keyword and then it will immediately rank oclue.com higher for MWD keyword.
Hope this example above makes sense to you.

If you own blog or website, stop by tomorrow and we will let you know how to embed Google +1 Button to your wordpress and website.

Sources: SEL and TC

PressReader Review: Mobile NewsPaper Reader

May 222011
 

pressreader front page from ipad

I just found the best newspaper app reader for iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile and Blackberry devices, called PressReader. What I like about this particular mobile newspaper application is that I can read newspaper from all around the world including my home country Slovenia and other 5 country (German, Russian, Bosnian*Croatian*, and USA/UK)  newspaper because I speak  5 languages.

PressReader saves your trip to Gas Station or place you are buying newspaper from, because you can download daily newspaper right onto your mobile device, not only you can read the newspaper you can copy, save it and also share it via social networking websites such as Facebook or Twitter.

As you can see in the picture above, you can read top stories for free, you can listen to them and search for particular topic, because it is all text based.

Features of PressReader:

  • 1800 FULL CONTENT newspapers
  • Read news from 94 Countries in 48 different languages
  • Daily updated newspaper such as US Today, NYTimes, The Herald, The Washington post etc…
  • Download newspaper automatically to your mobile device
  • Flipping through pages like your paper magazine
  • It’s Green! Save trees
  • Supports on-demand audio, so you can listen instead of read!

Those are just few features that press reader has, but  there are many more features that I would like you to find it for your self,  because this application is free to download on most popular devices such as Blackberry, iOS, Windows Mobile and Android. When you download press reader you get seven free newspaper issues and  if you decide to read more, then you can  subscribe to various subscription plans that start as low as $0.99! (Subscription Plans)

Where to download Press Reader

My best suggestion is that you go to your mobile app store and search for Press Reader or press on the links bellow.

PressReader for iPad – App Store

PressReader for iPhone – App Store

PressReader for Android – Android Market

PressReader for Blackberry – App World

For other PressReader application downloads such as Windows Mobile, PC and Mac visit their website PressDisplay

pressreader countriespressreader slovenian magazinepressreader washington post

 

Cool News from Yesterday

May 132011
 

Here are some news from yesterday that might be valuable for you to read.

Next Gen iPod Nano?

Images of what possibly could be the next generation iPod Nano has surfaced again. It features a 1.3 megapixel camera on the back but doesn’t have a clip.

New Mobile Twitter Website

Twitter has announced that they will be rolling out a new version of their mobile website. The new look resembles the Twitter for iPhone app (tabs) and features more HTML5 integration.

The app is fast – you can quickly scroll through your timeline, move between tabs and compose Tweets. It’s rich – it takes advantage of capabilities that high-end device browsers offer, such as touch gestures and a large screen. And it’s simple – it’s easy-to-use and has the features you’d expect from a Twitter application, including your timeline, @mentions, messages that you can read in conversation view, search, trending topics, lists, and more.

Angry Birds Theme Song Cover

Pomplamoose (Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn) from Youtube made a cool cover of the Angry Birds Theme.

 

Quick Image Resizer for Windows

Image Resizer 3 is a nice little application for Windows that allows you to easily resize images by just right-clicking on a picture.

Stumblers Stumble Really Good (Thumbs Up)

Apr 092011
 
StumbleUpon people showing Thumbs up

Credit:abnormalmarketing.com

Did you thumb up today? Because if you haven’t done so on Stumbleupon you might not be one of the billion stumbles that they serve per month. Yep, according to TheNextWeb Stumbleupon reached 1 Billion stumbles per month.

The recent jump at Stumbleupon has probably something to do with B series funding that was published on PRNews last month which according to that press release Stumbleupon received $17 Million in funding.

But what about Reddit and Digg? How much reddits does Reddit get per month, we are sure that is not even close to what Stumbleupon gets.

Credit: Reddit

Anyway,

I have been loyal stumbler for years, been visiting Stumbleupon probably once or twice a week and most common reason is to find some funny pictures that other stumbled upon. What I like about Stumbleupon the most is that you never really know what site you are going to hit next and if you dislike it you just thumbed it down.

For those that are not familiar with Stumbleupon…

Stumbleupon is a social networking site that lets you Like or Dislike (Thumb up or Thumb Down) sites either others shared or you stumbled upon. Lots of bloggers like my self have been using Stumbleupon to reach audience and share the extra voice with few hundred if not even thousands of stubmlers. When I owned blog called BONTB I conducted a research back in 2007 how much traffic can one post get from just Thumbs up. Within 24 hours I received over 16.000 visitors and some few thousands a day after. (see research here).

Now imagine how much can one good and quality content get per day now? 100.000 , 200.000 visits?

Embedded Tweets are even more functional

Mar 312011
 

Last year, Twitter introduced the option to embed tweets in blog posts and websites. The option to embed tweet replaced the need to take a screenshot of the tweet and then crop it. Twitter Developer Tools introduced this convenient way to embed tweets called Blackbird pie.

Recently, twitter has improved the blackbird pie and added more functionality to embedded tweets. Now you can retweet, reply to and favorite a tweet from an embedded tweet. You no longer need to go to your Twitter page or open up any new page manually to retweet, reply or favorite the tweet that’s embedded on a post or a website.

WordPress.com bloggers are already enjoying this added functionality as WordPress.com official blog has announced it. For WordPress.org users, there is a plugin called Backbird Pie for WordPress but we noticed that it hasn’t been updated yet. Supposedly, it will be updated soon so you can install and active it to start using blackbird pie on your WordPress powered blog.

For other webmasters, installing Blackbird Pie is still quite a hassle. The lately added functionality is a courtesy of a developer tool called Web Intents.  If you are already using Twitter’s official Tweet button on your blog, you will be enjoying the newest functions of embedded tweets. If you don’t have one, Web Intents have a detailed documentation on how to install script on your website to allow tweets to be embedded on your website. Web Intents are also mobile-friendly that works with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating system.

As the functionality has been rolled out throughout the WordPress.com network, users are tweeting and posting that it’s the most convenient way to interact with ‘tweets’ without having to leave the page behind and open up twitter to reply, retweet and favorite a tweet.

What do you think of Embedded Tweets?

Will you be using it on your site if you have one?

RIP Jackie Chan Trending Topic Is A Lie

Mar 302011
 

Sometimes social networks like Twitter can give you that morning adrenalin boost for free. This morning I looked up trending topics and found out that RIP Jackie Chan is trending, first thought OMG No!!! Why? How? What Happen?

Immediately I opened my Google Reader, Google News, Newszela to see what happened to one of my favorite actors, and my research found 0 results. I went back to that Twitter trending topic “RIP Jackie Chan” and by reading some 10-20 last tweets, lots of people said “it’s a lie” now that was a huge relive.

As it looks like, one of the top twitter accounts like Stewie_Griffin tweeted “Jackie Chan did not die. RIP means: Really Inspiring #Person” and tweets like that lead to lots of  retweets, and such words land on top trending topics.

You know, now that I look at tweets regarding Rip Jackie Chan, it’s kind of funny how many people think that he is really dead.

Lesson learned, not everything you see as trending topic is true. Lately most trending topics on Twitter are just garbage and not useful at all, in my opinion. I am glad that nothing happened to Jackie Chan and that he is alive with good health.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Fan Page Hacked #hackercup2011

Jan 252011
 

Upsy! Looks like Mark Zuckerberg’s fan page was hacked just a while ago. Did not take long for Facebook team to take the whole page down but thanks to friends at techcrunch who took a snapshot of it.

hmf

It says:

Let the hacking begin. If facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks, why doesn’t Facebook let its users invest in Facebook in a social way? Why not transform Facebook into a ‘social business’ the way Nobel Price winner Muhammad Yunus described it? http://bit.ly/fs6rT3 What do you think? #hackercup2011

Facebook Might Share your Address and Mobile Phone Number With Other Apps

Jan 162011
 

Remember all the dilemma about the Facebook Privacy and stuff about half a year ago? Well it to quite after Facebook re-designed their code so you can straighten your privacy, but is your private information really private?

You have probably seen popup like the one in the picture below , when an application is requesting access to post stuff to your Facebook wall. Now you might see some extra text like:

“Current Address and Mobile Phone Number”

facebook app allow

That means that your address and mobile phone number will be shared with third party apps and some might not need that info but still can obtain if you click on “Allow” button.

So next time when you are about to hit Allow for some Facebook App consider reading the popup window bit more closely, and ask your self: Why does this app need my address and phone number?

Anyway, for more detailed info visit our friends at Naked Security.

RSS is Dead? Says Who?

Jan 042011
 

MG Siegler known as Paris Lemon on Twitter posted an article yesterday about RSS being dead, that article made lots of debate around the social media and blogosphere, but MG is known for writing such articles that’s why he is one of the top writers at TC.

Anyway, I left him a comment saying that RSS feeds can not be compared to Facebook and Twitter traffic and therefore RSS feeds are not dead.

Thing is that regular people that are not into technology  love to read two or three tech blogs and most likely don’t even know what RSS means or what the official Icon for RSS is, therefore they subscribe via

  • Email Newsletter
  • Facebook (Fan Page)
  • Twitter (follow accounts)

But then you have geeks like me who has over 300 tech blogs in RSS feeds (Google Reader) and they are all sub-categorized in folders  (Phone Blogs, Android Blogs, Windows Blogs, Apple Blogs …etc)

RSS feeds is never going to be dead unless Google shuts down Feedburner and even then, I could subscribe to blog.com/feed

To be honest, you can’t compare RSS feed to any social media website service because 140 or 350 characters for me at least is not enough to know exactly what am I about to click or read.

 Fred from AVC wrote also some good points which you can read here, he also put out some graphical information which you might like.

Anyway, what do you think? Is RSS dead? If so , why? (Leave your responses in the commenting section below)

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