Undoubtedly, the recession wasn’t really hitting the internet as hard as what it was other industries. Sure we has a bit of trouble over at Microsoft but that’s because they are also a trading company in the real world. What I mean to say is that the online world was fighting off the worst of it.

In fact, companies such as eBay and Amazon actually didn’t do so bad. People began to sell their stuff when they needed the cash and others bought them because they didn’t have too much cash to splash. It was all making perfect sense until the internet could take no more as real companies started to turn their back on it.

Advertising is plummeting. A new report states that advertising on a worldwide scale is down by five percent. In America, the figure is even bigger at 7% worth an estimated 0.4 Billion dollars. Companies who usually do quite well from advertising such as Monster reported that they lost 31% compared to last year.

Wouldn’t you know it; internet giant Google is the only ad publisher to report a growth, however even this is in single digits.

Now that advertising is failing the next sector to be hit will be entertainment. Big companies that have real world trading have more of a chance of survival but for online magazines and games where they often depend on advertising alone to keep the ship afloat – there may be trouble ahead indeed.

The IDC, who released the report did have some good news however.

“We think the industry will continue to see losses in the third and fourth quarters, but the growth rates–or the loss rates, if you will–will eventually begin to improve,” Karsten Weide, program director for digital media and entertainment at IDC, said in a statement. “However, we also believe the industry may have to wait until mid-2010 until it sees real growth again.”

• First Google+ TV Advertising: Sharing, but like real life – November 25, 2011
• Rdio Television Ad From Walmart and Samsung – November 24, 2011
• The Advertising Collective: AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft Join Forces – November 9, 2011
• Crenk is Getting Greatly Improved! – October 18, 2011
• Crenk Still Being Punished by Google for NO REASON! – July 14, 2011

Crenk Recession Watch originally appeared on: Crenk
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Deng Senshan was shipped off to a paramilitary style boot camp by his parents to cure his computer/internet addiction. These camps are notorious for treating teens harshly with physical and mental abuse. They have even been known to shock their young clients with high amounts of electricity as a punishment.

Upon arriving at the camp, Deng was placed into solitary confinement as though being addicted to the internet was illegal. Then, just days after arriving at the camp, instructors beat him to death because “he ran too slow”.

His family, who paid £600 to have him sent to the camp for a month are calling for the immediate closing of the camp. Three instructors who are taught to have killed Deng are being held by local police.

Internet and gaming addictions are becoming widespread in countries such as the US, UK and France, but loosing your life for it is wrong. I guess this story goes to show what living in China on a day to day basis is like where instructors are allowed to beat, shock and mentally torture kids.

• Hong Kong Apple Store Tour – October 3, 2011
• China Launching Module to Practice Docking on Their Own Space Station – September 27, 2011
• Huffington Post To Be Leading Independent Online News Source in UK – July 9, 2011
• Apple iPad 2 Launch in China – May 11, 2011
• Hachi Shows You How To Meet New People – April 27, 2011

China Internet Camp Kills Kid originally appeared on: Crenk
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The Twitter infrastructure may become increasingly unreliable due to the volume of third party requests on the system. The crash could end up being a result of an altered Twitter API due to a change in architecture. Twitter might end up altering their terms of service, possibly in an attempt to make some money, thereby making some of these services unauthorized users. Twitter might be purchased by an entity that makes wholesale changes to all of the above. Or Twitter might end up failing and close down.” This may well hold water as another one of my followers, Emmzy_138 mentioned that TwitPic is also acting up.

The Twitter blog today recognized the problem and gave us a reason : Twitter is under attack. Here is what they said in what was a very short but tense post. “On this otherwise happy Thursday morning, Twitter is the target of a denial of service attack. Attacks such as this are malicious efforts orchestrated to disrupt and make unavailable services such as online banks, credit card payment gateways, and in this case, Twitter for intended customers or users. We are defending against this attack now and will continue to update our status blog as we continue to defend and later investigate.” I will update this post as I get more information. Subscribe to Crenk here to stay informed.

• Hong Kong Apple Store Tour – October 3, 2011
• Huffington Post To Be Leading Independent Online News Source in UK – July 9, 2011
• Hachi Shows You How To Meet New People – April 27, 2011
• New Virus “Erases” Files and Folders: Panics Users – April 27, 2011
• News.me Opens Up Their Amazing Social News iPad App – April 22, 2011

News Alert: Twitter Down and Under Attack originally appeared on: Crenk
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That have just invested shares worth over $106 million dollars in On2 Technologies which are a video compression company. This new venture could change YouTube forever giving it faster download speeds and less buffering as a result.

This may also help to cut Google’s massive bandwidth bill of over $300 million per year that is necessary to keep YouTube up and running. By compressing the size of the videos (some of which are as big of 2GB since HD was introduced) this would make the site smaller and easier to manage while attracting more because of a better user experience.

“Because we spend a lot of time working to make the overall web experience better for users, we think that video compression technology should be a part of the web platform.

“To that end, we’re happy to announce today that we’ve signed a deal to acquire On2 Technologies, a leading creator of high-quality video compression technology.”

• Hajj Pilgrimage Live to Watch on YouTube for Free – November 4, 2011
• YouTube To Launch Movies On Demand Service: Key iTunes Competitor – April 26, 2011
• Watch Live: Royal Wedding to be Streamed Live on YouTube – April 19, 2011
• YouTube Videos Now Allows You to Alter Playback Speed – February 19, 2011
• Google is Offering $4 Billion Dollars to Buy Twitter? – November 20, 2010

Google Acquire Video Compression Company originally appeared on: Crenk
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It has emerged that the companies’ lack of market holding has led to Yahoo! putting a clause in the agreement which states that Yahoo! can back out of the deal at any time before the scheduled five year renewal if their revenue share falls too low.

Yahoo! and Microsoft failed to specify what exactly the number was that would entitle Yahoo! to pull out should revenue fall below it however it is expected that the danger zone will be in the first eighteen months.

This is because any new service, whether continuing on from an old one or starting from scratch will experience growing pains.  A few other details have emerged since the deal was officially filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

For example, Microsoft must hire 400 Yahoo! engineers and pay them “market-competitive” wages. Furthermore, a full deal must be struck by October 27th otherwise the debates will be brought to a arbitration panel.  Time is money.

I guess now we all have to play the waiting game. I wonder in two years time will be caught saying “I Binged myself and I’m 5^th in the search results!”.

• Bing Replacing Google on iPhone 4? – June 1, 2010
• Twitter and Yahoo Team Up for Real Time Tweets in Search Results – February 28, 2010
• Internet Search Expanded, Online Information Drilldown – November 15, 2009
• Yahoo and Microsoft Search – Possible Collaboration – July 29, 2009
• The Advertising Collective: AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft Join Forces – November 9, 2011

Yahoo! Has Clause to Back Out From Microsoft Deal originally appeared on: Crenk
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However, when it comes to Web 2.0 they’re left quivering in their combat boots. The USMC has just announced that it is placing a network wide ban on Web 2.0 sites such as Twitter, MySpace and FaceBook in an effort to make their systems more secure.

They say that these sites are easily hacked and used by hackers and scammers and indeed those against US operations to post links to malicious sites in the hope a marine on R&R or a USMC staff member might click on them.

This would expose the soft underbelly of the USMC’s network and would lead to disaster. Here is what the USMC order read :

• “These internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure, user generated content and targeting by adversaries…”
• “The very nature of SNS [social network sites] creates a larger attack and exploitation window, exposes unnecessary information to adversaries and provides an easy conduit for information leakage that puts OPSEC [operational security], COMSEC [communications security], [and] personnel… at an elevated risk of compromise.”

• Virus Infecting Mac and Linux – October 31, 2010
• Social Media Demographics – July 9, 2010
• Social Media Revolution – September 6, 2009
• Social Networking Site for Collectors – June 29, 2009
• Facebook Connect Battles For Your Information – December 1, 2008

US Marines Ban Twitter, MySpace and Facebook originally appeared on: Crenk
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This app, which was launched yesterday and is available to all Facebook users will utilize extra processing power from their computers when it is not in use and use that power on a huge network of other donators to run many different programs on central computers in labs and research facilities. The reason why these labs such as Africa@home and Climateprediction.net can’t simply do it themselves is because the amount of power needed to examine protine particles or predict theretical weather simulations is huge and extremely expensive.

The whole operation could not have been done without Grid Republic who had the technology to link up the PCs with extra processing power and use them properly giving each one a small crumb of the huge task, which will hopefully all come together to solve sciences big questions.

“By simply running an application on your computer, which uses very little incremental resources, you can expand computing resources to researchers,” Deborah Conrad, Intel vice president and general manager of corporate marketing, said in a statement.

Intel says that the application will not affect performance and thus will not be noticed by the user. Progress Thru Processors is available to download right here.

• PDF to Microsoft Word Converter Facebook Edition – December 4, 2011
• LuvBook S: Hello Kitty Laptop from Mouse Computer Japan – November 28, 2011
• Washington Post Facebook Social Reader News Application – November 26, 2011
• Dont Just Jump Ship to Apple So Easily – September 27, 2011
• Share and Listen to Music on Facebook with Spotify – September 23, 2011

Progress Thru Processors – The New Way to Help originally appeared on: Crenk
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That’s assuming that it makes it that far. Anyone who ever worked in a big company will tell you that invoices and bills seem to grow their own legs and go walkies quite a lot, often unnoticed until an angry supplier calls up.

Bill.com looks to change all that. The company, which has just raised 17 million dollars, takes the whole thing digital. When a paper bill comes into a company, they fax it to a special number and when an e-mail bill comes in they e-mail it to a special address. Then, when they log into Bill.com they will all be there in digitised form. Then all the managers who need to sign off on the bill can simply click ‘Approve’. The bill is then set to a status where by accounting will take control. They can then pay the bill via transfer and all is done and dusted.

Many companies report that Bill.com has halved the amount of man time it used to take in paying bills. This is because everything is all in one place where everyone can approve or pay the bill at a time that suites them. This way, a bill doesn’t become stuck at a managers desk for days because he/she is busy, leaving others waiting around to sign. It also dramatically reduced the chances of the bill getting lost or misconstrued.

This is a great web tool for any medium or large business where bills seem to eat up too much company time.

• Sony Ericsson Aspen Caught on Video – February 10, 2010
• iPad Analytics will be Supported by Motally – January 31, 2010
• Dell Mini 5 Tablet Shows up on the Black Market – January 29, 2010
• LG’s Cool New 11.6 Inch UltraPortable – January 8, 2010
• Yelp Walks Away from Google’s Half a Billion Dollars – December 22, 2009

Bill.com – The New Way to Pay originally appeared on: Crenk
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Spotify are the biggest at the moment. They are the ones to go to for video and music streaming. Recently however, Microsoft announced that it would launch its own music streaming service. This was originally intended for July but has become delayed.

Several other companies are now catching up quickly with streaming services already launched or in the works.

TechCrunch.com contacted Microsoft and this is what they had to say for themselves:

We don’t have much detail to disclose on this subject but what we can share is that, in the coming months, MSN is planning a new music service in Beta via its Music channel in the UK.

“At this stage we won’t be confirming the details behind this but more information will be available soon and will be communicated in due course.”

At any rate, Microsoft had better hop to it if they want to succeed in what it becoming a crowded market. If they let users get too comfortable with one source (as we have see happen in the past with iTunes) then they will not want to move onto any future service provided by Microsoft.

• New Virus “Erases” Files and Folders: Panics Users – April 27, 2011
• Google is Offering $4 Billion Dollars to Buy Twitter? – November 20, 2010
• Unveiling Windows Live Messenger for iPhone – April 28, 2010
• Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Caught on Film – January 14, 2010
• I Can’t Believe it’s not Spotify! – August 19, 2009

Microsoft’s Music Streaming – Where is it Bill? originally appeared on: Crenk
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These “conflicts of interest” arose around 15 months ago when Google started making their way into Apples territory such as announcing their upcoming Chrome OS and the recent debacle over Google Voice being denied into Apple’s App Store.

An official statement from Apple read:

“Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s Board.”

To be honest readers, I don’t find this too surprising. Schmidt was being asked to leave certain meetings at Apple when they were discussing plans that could be used by Google. This is no kind of behaviour to be going on in one of the world’s biggest companies. He will be replaced by a more effective person who will not have conflicts in other businesses with Apple.

• Hong Kong Apple Store Tour – October 3, 2011
• Larry Page Lacks Eric Schmidt’s Personality and Public Speaking Skills – September 28, 2011
• Apple’s Steve Jobs Moonlights as Ninja? – September 15, 2010
• Sex Apps Removed for Parental Control, say Apple – February 23, 2010
• Apple Banning Sex Apps – February 22, 2010

Google’s CEO leaves Apple originally appeared on: Crenk
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“In the next step in the Sky+HD journey, Sky today announced that it will launch the UK’s first 3D channel next year,” said Sky in a press release

“The service will be broadcast across Sky’s existing HD infrastructure and be available via the current generation of Sky+HD set-top boxes.” This is good news as the UK has just undergone a massive nationwide digital switchover and people having to change their set-top boxes all over again would anger some.

However, those wanting to enjoy 3D films, entertainment and sport will have to change their TV for a 3D ready TV. These are expected from large companies such as Panasonic and will be on sale in 2010 to coincide with the launch of the 3D service.

“3D is a genuinely ‘seeing is believing’ experience, making TV come to life as never before. Just like the launch of digital, Sky+ and HD, this is latest step in our commitment to innovating for customers.” said Sky.

• Samsung’s First 3D TV Available – March 2, 2010
• Evernote: Updates, Success and Big Ideas – February 24, 2010
• Dell Mini 5 Tablet Shows up on the Black Market – January 29, 2010
• Windows Mobile Overhaul Coming in 2010 – January 27, 2010
• Facebook 3.0 – New App Here…Finally – August 28, 2009

Sky TV to Launch 3D Channel Next Year originally appeared on: Crenk
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I put some good play lists on my Mp3, dug the tracky bottoms out of the wardrobe (oh, the shame) and put on the stopwatch. Then it dawned on me – I don’t know the first thing about getting fit. Therefore, I did what anyone in their right mind would do – I Googled.

After sifting through dozens of brutal websites, I came across a few military style sites when it clicked – surely, armies across the world must have SOMETHING! This article is a list of the top three Army websites of real world militaries about getting fit. These cool web apps and videos will hopefully have me in ship shape in no time.

1. The Royal Commandos: This section of their website is dedicated to getting you fit in a short space of time in order to gain entry to them. There are tons of videos showing you how to do the exercises properly, what you should eat and what makes a good schedule. Because it’s from one of the world best fighting forces where physical fitness is of top priority during training, you know you’re not getting the wimpy approach. Easy to use and tones of information on there.

2. 62^nd Infantry .com – This is an unofficial website run by the 62^nd Infantry Battalion of the Irish Reserve Defense Forces. It focuses less on interactive features and more on the training side of things, which I liked. There are charts to figure out your BMI, motivation techniques, goals and targets. Although this is aimed at meeting fitness levels to gain entry for training, it can be used by the average Joe to shed the pounds.

3. Canadian Army. This site doesn’t go into to much detail like the previous two sites, but it does give you some good step-by-step instructions and some goals for joining which you can use as personal targets.

Now, I’m off for a jog.

• 3 Awesomely Simple and Effective Productivity Tips (And Tools) – December 5, 2011
• 2 Tools to Turn YouTube into a Genre-Based Radio Station – October 3, 2011
• Ways to Improve Your 404 Error Pages – April 22, 2011
• Multiple Uploads to Hosting Sites with MirrorCreator – December 5, 2010
• TinEye: Reverse Image Search – December 5, 2010

Top 3 Army Fitness Websites and Apps originally appeared on: Crenk
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Samsung did a great job slimming the Tocco down to the Tocco Lite. Now, there are rumours buzzing around the Nokia may have done the same with their new N97 Smartphone.

Pictures, which were nabbed by Engadget show what is being called the N97 Mini. The Picture shows a smaller N97(perhaps around 20-25% smaller) next to its bigger brother. It appears as through the D-Pad has been moved, along with smaller keys grouped closer together.

I’d much prefer to have the Mini rather than the original as long as it still had 3G. Sure I’d be making a cut back in performance and screen size but hey, it’s a recession out there!

Nokia haven’t said much except for just hmm and ahh at these pictures. These rumours were reportedly first uttered by a Vodafone employee on a forum earlier this week. If they are true, we’re in for one heck of a cool phone. But then, this could just be some cheap Chinese knock-off that looks like the N97.

• Nokia N97 Mini Gold Edition – February 27, 2010
• Nokia In Trouble With Nintendo for Showing Off Emulator – November 30, 2009
• Nokia to Build Netbook – August 23, 2009
• Nokia Lumia 900 Preview – January 23, 2012
• Limited Edition Nokia Lumia 800 Dark Night Rises – December 16, 2011

Nokia N97 Mini – True or Just Internet Buzz? originally appeared on: Crenk
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The case was made against the sites three founders who were not even present, nor aware of the proceedings. When they found they sent a letter to have the ruling dismissed as they are currently seeking to make an appeal.

As it stands, if they do not comply with the ruling and remove all access to the site in Holland

within the next ten days then the company will be fined three million Euros. They will also be fined 30,000 Euro for

every day that the site remains up and running in the Netherlands.

In April, the three owners, Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg  along with a financer in Sweden were ordered to pay around 3 million in damages to various production companies and were to serve a year behind bars. Currently, a company called Global Gaming Factory has plans to buy Pirate Bay, which is only adding to the pandemonium.

• Hong Kong Apple Store Tour – October 3, 2011
• Huffington Post To Be Leading Independent Online News Source in UK – July 9, 2011
• The Pirate Bay Gets a Shipment of New Servers – May 17, 2011
• Hachi Shows You How To Meet New People – April 27, 2011
• New Virus “Erases” Files and Folders: Panics Users – April 27, 2011

Pirate Bay Ordered Out Of The Netherlands originally appeared on: Crenk
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Google Voice has an application for the iPhone called GV Mobile and, until recently it was available on the Apple iStore.  Apple removed the application along with several other similar ones over the past two days. Their reason for this was that it was too similar to features already on the iPhone. Whilst they did not go into any further detail I suspect that it was the voice and SMS features.

I also suspect that it was AT&T who were putting pressure on them because Google voice was taking away some of their income as Google Voice allows cheap calls and texts from the iPhone.

They called the developer of the application Sean Kovacs and told him that his application was being removed from the iStore. This is what he wrote on his blog yesterday

“Richard Chipman from Apple just called – he told me they’re removing GV Mobile from the App Store due to itduplicating features that the iPhone comes with (Dialer, SMS, etc). He didn’t actually specify which features, although I assume the whole app in general. He wouldn’t send a confirmation email either – too scared I would post it. I’ll see what I can do to get it back up there gang…”

I guess the friendly face of Apple as concerns the iPhone is just that – a face. By demonstrating such tight control over the apps available and by not even giving good reasons as for removing apps, they could easily drive customers away to other networks and smart phones, where apps are in abundance.

• Apple Approves Google Voice iPhone Apps – September 20, 2010
• IPHDAVAD The All In One HDMI and USB Port for Your iPhone and iPad – November 28, 2011
• Watch YouTube Playlists on iPad – November 27, 2011
• Solution for Downgrading iOS 5 – November 23, 2011
• iPhone 4: Retro Yet Futuristic Wooden iPhone Case – November 20, 2011

Apple Yank Google Voice originally appeared on: Crenk
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They, in the past, have been criticized for blocking certain apps and having limited selections for their phones. They have indeed seen the error of their ways. Speaking at their first ever developers conference in San Jose, California.

“It’s a new day (in wireless),” McAdam, Verizon CEO said in the opening address of the developer conference which was also Webcast. “And our future success is no longer in the walled-garden. Our success is tied to you (developers).

This would make for a nice touch to the current Verizon services. By giving users an app store you’re giving them one more reason to stay with you rather than search for greener pastures. I can’t see there being as many apps as the Apple App Store simply because Verizon don’t have the same kind of image that Apple has –sleek, cool and ultra-modern. However, their users will most certainly be impressed. Let’s hope us critics are too when it launches. Keep checking Crenk for updates on this story.

• How to Download Spotify App Clients for Windows and Mac – December 2, 2011
• Android Market Now Has Over 250,000 Apps: Grown by 100,000 in Last 30 Days.. Really! – March 21, 2011
• Intro to New Apps Thanks to AppGiveaway – June 28, 2009
• Kick Productivity Into High Gear with ActionMethod – June 22, 2009
• Samsung Illusion 4G – November 18, 2011

Verizon to launch App Store originally appeared on: Crenk
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A whopping 67% of us ‘Google’ things. If we want to know something we simply ’Google it’, as it has become known. Like any good online company, their name is also a verb. Just like Twitter with Tweet. They have a hug share of the market – undoubtedly. Now however, they may have their first real competitor in years.

Anyone remember last year when Microsoft was trying to buy Yahoo! for almost 50 Billion dollars? It went down in flames. But the inter-company relationship didn’t end. Now, they’re discussing a possible collaboration between the two search engines –Bing (Microsoft) and Yahoo!.

If this were to go ahead then it would offer a chunk of healthy competition to the dominant Google. The news storyalone would send thousands flocking, to give it a whirl – but Yahoo and Microsoft better be careful.

People like their search engine. For me, its been Yahoo! imply because I like a bit of news before I search and also because it was the first search engine I ever used so I just kind of stuck with it. People don’t like change – and when they do change they don’t want to be insulted by too many sponsored results like over at Ask.com or search results that make them want to ‘Google’ .

It’s impossible to tell what the end result would be from this mutation of search engines. Would it be Yahoo!, powered by Bing or the other way around? They do have a plan to split the revenue between them but what about the work load such as PR, development and staffing the site. Now might not be a good time to invest in any search engine as there’s going to be a war, with casualties. I’ll wait until the final few blows before I put my money on one of them.

• Internet Search Expanded, Online Information Drilldown – November 15, 2009
• Bing Replacing Google on iPhone 4? – June 1, 2010
• Yahoo! and Bing Still Rivals – August 25, 2009
• Bing Shows us a New “Thelma & Louise” Ending – August 15, 2010
• Yahoo! Has Clause to Back Out From Microsoft Deal – August 5, 2009

Yahoo and Microsoft Search – Possible Collaboration originally appeared on: Crenk
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This time it’s the turn of TuneIn to really jump on the Twitter bandwagon. The have just secured a massive investment of no less than half a million dollars from True Ventures to build upon their existing site which was launched just a few short weeks ago.

At this current point in time they offer the basic tweeting service but that is where the similarities end, full stop. They describe themselves as a highly visual media dashboard that will transform your Twitter experience. They organize other tweets from your network of followers and those you’re following into categories of the most active/popular amongst the users. It will also let you keep an eye on media and sites that are linked to your network.

According to TuneIn, this is but the tip of the iceberg. As a result of getting such a massive amount of money from True Ventures, there is certainly a lot more heading our way said Adam Hertz, the founder of InTune.

• Chat with Your Followers with Twee.li – September 12, 2010
• Measure your Influence Level in Twitter – September 12, 2010
• How to Get More Twitter Followers: Some Methods That Work – March 21, 2011
• Generate your Twitter-like Logo for Free – December 5, 2010
• Your First Tweet and Your First Follower – July 28, 2010

Tune In Gets $500,000 to Amp Up Their Site originally appeared on: Crenk
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Sprints CEO, Dan Hesse shot down claims by Verizon that Verizon would be getting the Palm Pre sooner than expected. Sprints CEO, who was due to launch the device the next day on his network made firm comments about their exclusivity deal concerning the Palm Pre phone.

He said that “they need to check their facts” and “That just is not the case. Both Palm and Sprint have agreed not to discuss the length of the exclusivity deal. But I can tell you it’s not six months.”

If Verizon go ahead with their aspirations to have the Palm Pre on their network by 2010 then indeed it won’t be six months. It will be seven.

It should come as no huge shock because both carries operate using the same technology and thus they both are ideal to carry the Palm Pre which is seen as one of the main competitors to Apple’s iPhone in the US.

However, I think that Sprint really does need this phone on their network. Thy have developed a bad reputation for poor quality service and bad connections and have worked tirelessly to fix the problem. This phone could be their one shining light. Hesse said “We are very different company than we were 12 months ago,”. “And the Pre is the coming-out party for the new Sprint that shows off our fantastic data network and rate plans.”

• Samsung Illusion 4G – November 18, 2011
• What is 4G? – November 18, 2011
• New Blackberry Curve’s 9350 – 9360 – 9370 – August 23, 2011
• Verizon Launch Three New Smartphones: LG Revolution, HTC Trophy and Motorola Droid X2 – May 26, 2011
• Infographic: RIM vs the World – May 17, 2011

Palm Pre Wars: Sprint And Verizon Dont Play Nice Over Palm Pre originally appeared on: Crenk
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It’s true. I’m not a blogger and I do tweet a lot. That’s why I’m about to place an order for a t-shirt that says exactly that from Threadless.com. They have just opened up a new twitter branch of their website that takes popular, funny and strange tweets and makes t-shirts out of them. Pretty cool ones I might add.

Basically, people submit tweets to them or they find the tweets. If they think they’re funny or interesting they’ll make a cool t-shirt out of them. The price of a t-shirt is $18 before shipping and their available in sizes from small to Extra Extra Large for our small or large tweeters. They’re also available in both man and women sizes.

I think it’s a cool idea. There are hundreds and thousands of people using Twitter every singe day and I’m sure that a proportion of them are as nerdy as me and as such will see it fit to buy several T-Shirts that say “140 is the new 420”.

There is also a chance to make some cash. If you nominate a tweet that gets printed you can get your hands on $140. Furthermore, if you submit your own tweet that gets printed you will make $500. Not bad for a little bit of tweeting. Below are a couple of my favourite tees I seen at Threadless.

• How to Get More Twitter Followers: Some Methods That Work – March 21, 2011
• Chat with Your Followers with Twee.li – September 12, 2010
• Free Black Icons Set for Social Media and Twitter – September 12, 2010
• Measure your Influence Level in Twitter – September 12, 2010
• Your First Tweet and Your First Follower – July 28, 2010

Twitter T-Shirts originally appeared on: Crenk
Join our Community: Twitter, Facebook

Martha Stewart – probably one of the most famous names in the last fifteen years for her less than scrupulous past. The home-decor queen has now made even more waves by calling Facebook “dippy” and saying that she much prefers facebook.

In an interview she commented on how she has grown to dislike Facebook. This is the second major celebrity to do so in just two days – on Saturday Bill Gates admitted to abandoning Facebook.

She said that she like the micro-blogging platform because it’s easier, you can reach more people and it doesn’t take up too much time.

“I just love it so much more than Facebook … First of all, you don’t have to spend any time on it, and, second of all, you reach a lot more people. And I don’t have to ‘befriend’ and do all that other dippy stuff that they do on Facebook.”

She called Twitter the Walmart of the internet – hopefully referring to its success not its large stocking of canned goods which is far from plenty.

Twitter just keeps growing with thousands of celebrities now gathering huge followers.

Crenk on Twitter – here

My Twitter – here

• Facebook vs Twitter: 2010 Social Demographic Breakdown – December 21, 2010
• Facebook is the most used URL in Twitter Profiles – December 5, 2010
• Save your Photos, Videos and Documents in one Place with PhotoRem – November 7, 2010
• How to Add a Sidebar with Facebook, Twitter, Delicio.us and Digg – October 31, 2010
• Virus Infecting Mac and Linux – October 31, 2010

Martha Stewart Hearts Twitter, Not Facebook originally appeared on: Crenk
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Chrome now controls 2% of the market which is pretty good for a new comer. However, they’re looking for more as the Chrome team target a more specific section of people – the entertainment junkies. They are creating a new accelerator add-on for the browser that will enhance graphics for things like watching movies, playing games and using applications. I think this is actually a good tactic as browser games, web applications and streaming videos are becoming very popular. Just look at Quake Live.

“The O3D team is working on getting O3D integrated into the Chromium build, and we’re close to being able to complete our first step towards integration,” said programmer Greg Spencer. “I’ll be making the Windows build of Chromium be dependent upon building O3D as part of the build process.”

The upcoming Chrome OS will indeed be much of Linux under the skin however it will also have much of its workload centred on online applications. An improvement in graphics and the power of the Google Chrome Browser can only mean a bright future for the daring Chrome team.

• Google Chrome OS Supporting PC Apps? – June 16, 2010
• Google Chrome OS Arriving this Month? – October 4, 2009
• Buy a Google Chrome OS ChromeBook Laptop – May 12, 2011
• Google Flattens Their Chrome Logo – March 16, 2011
• Free Grooveshark Google Chrome Theme – March 7, 2011

Google Chrome – Heading for Success originally appeared on: Crenk
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In Russia, an activist group called the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs are lobbying to have the service removed or at least hindered in Russia. They argue that the service is not giving Russian services a fighting chance as Skype dominates the market. Other VoIP providers on the hit list were Google Voice which operates a service similar to that of Skype.

“Most I.P. telephony market brands, such as Skype and ICQ, are foreign, and that is why we have to protect the domestic producer.” These domestic producers such as MegaFon would indeed do better if there was no Skype in Russia but it would have disastrous consequences.

For one thing, may Russians rely on Skype as a lo-cost business tool. If it were to be taken away the only way to communicate with other devout Skype users across the globe would be regular phone or a less popular Russian service that would undoubtedly have compatibility issues with foreign VoIP services.

Another is that this would represent a step backwards for the Kremlin towards 1988. I don’t know what I would do if my Skype suddenly vanished – business costs would increase a ton!

• VoIP Calling via 3G Arrives on the iPhone (about time!) – January 30, 2010
• Google interested in Russian Dominated IM Service, ICQ – December 20, 2009
• Hong Kong Apple Store Tour – October 3, 2011
• Huffington Post To Be Leading Independent Online News Source in UK – July 9, 2011
• Microsoft Acquisition of Skype Could Really Help Video Kinect – May 11, 2011

Russia -v- Skype originally appeared on: Crenk
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Okay, so you’re going on a six month long journey from Moscow in Russia to Freetown in Sierra Leone. You’ll need to break out the Blackberry and e-mail everyone you know along the way so you can meet up and chill. What is this, 2007?

No, you take out you iPhone and use Dopplr. The software has recently become available on the iPhone and I have to say I was very impressed. Firstly, it looks really good on the huge screen and the tough functions compliment it brilliantly. As with the actual site, it’s very easy to use and doesn’t give up too much of the functionality (well, you have to make some concessions, don’t you?)

The features on there though are what do it for me. You can search through maps and guides before you even reach your destination. You could be on a train through Serbia whilst deciding what hotel to stay in Warsaw. Or maybe your on a ferry from France deciding what pub to visit in Dublin. It has it all – whilst looking gorgeous.

The cherry on the cake however is the Twitter like appeal. People can keep track of where you are and when you’ll arrive so they can plan accordingly – genius.

A few bad points include the fact that it’s only suited to the regular traveler who would actually have that many friends scattered all over the globe. It also lets every burglar in the neighbourhood know you’re away just in case the half-dozen pizza delivery leaflets sticking out of your letterbox didn’t do the job.

• Phone Apps for Your Next Road Trip – January 11, 2012
• Packing Suitcases and Space Age Technology Merge – November 30, 2009
• Roomatlas Offers New Take on Traveling – November 30, 2009
• NFT Internet Maps On Your Mobile – November 23, 2009
• iYunque: Rainforest App with Maps, Routes and More.. – August 28, 2009

Dopplr now available on your iPhone originally appeared on: Crenk
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“The key takeaway there is that we’re thinking big and we’re in it for the long haul,”

Speaking at a conference recently, the services co-founder Biz Stone said that they have big plans for twitter including pitching the service to companies to help gain new customers and keep existing ones and also as a way of making the company more interactive with their customers.

He also mentioned that Twitter will improve their security such as adding authentication codes to help prevent identity theft and may also use data from user records for their own needs.

Again he stressed that Twitter could not be treated as though it were a Social network like Facebook or Bebo.

“We started out by creating this very simple status updating system. And that’s not what Twitter is. It evolved into something else,” he said.

• Twitter Introduces Hovercards to Make Twitter More Social – February 10, 2010
• Will AT&T’s Buzz Search be a Success? – January 29, 2010
• Get Your Word Fix with Word Free – December 7, 2009
• Tweetdeck Evolves For Power Users – December 4, 2009
• Washington Post Facebook Social Reader News Application – November 26, 2011

Twitter – In it for the long haul originally appeared on: Crenk
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