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
Does anyone remember during the .com boom when everyone was rushing onto the net and the ‘browser wars’ started. This was when loads of companies began making browsers for a share of the growing market. Many perished with IE having much of the spoils given its advantage of being pre-installed on every Windows PC and Mozilla being the browser of choice for the more ‘power user-ish’ people. Well when Google introduced Chrome late last year fuel was pored over the smouldering remains of the browser war and now its back again in all it raging fury.
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.
Skype is the most popular method of making online voice calls across the globe. It’s free, fast and effective. Recently they have brought out numerous updates and upgrades that only improved the service making for better video calls and streamlining the call process. However, a recent surprise concerning Skype came not from the company, but the Kremlin.
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!
Dopplr – a cool tool that lets you upload and share your future travel plans and itinerary with the world.
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.
I love my twitter account. It’s fast, easy and the best service I’ve come accross in ages. Obviously, Twitter is not just another social networking site, which are mainly funded by advertising and partnerships. Twitter is an excellent micro-blogging platform. However, because it’s a micro blogging platform it doesn’t attract long visits to profile pages and as such it’s difficult to make money from advertising. For that reason, they have to think in the long term and a little outside the box.
“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.
Google’s mobile platform Android is taking off very quickly. Multiple phone makers are picking up on the OS because of is functionality and features. Now, HTC have come out of the OD closet and stated that by 2010 over half of their phones will use the popular OS. This follows the Android success of their previous phones the G1 Magic and the Hero.
They have also announced that a new phone coming out in a couple of month’s time in either September or October which will be based on the Qualcommis platform from Brew mobile. While they may be stepping away from the Android OS for a little while I’m sure that they are busy as beavers behind the scenes working closely with Google and their Android platform.
The developers of mobile phones actually quite like the Android platform as it’s extremely easy to work with. Because Android takes care of the look and feel of the phone developers just have to give it their own little twist instead of starting from scratch with themes, user functions and then get on to the programs.
Yahoo has confirmed that is has purchased a small start-up located in San Francisco in order to add better photo functionality to their Web Mail. The company which has been bought out is called Xoopit and is an emerging contender in the photo sharing world. The service allows users to share photos easily on a host of different sites such as Flickr and Facebook by taking them from their e-mail inboxes.
On the company blog, Bryan Lamkin, the senior vice-president said:
“ Why is this such a big deal? Yahoo! Mail is actually home to one of the largest online photo repositories in the world. And every day, millions of you use Yahoo! Mail as your primary way to share the photos of important moments in your lives. While social networks and community sites are great for sharing photos with everyone you know, we realize it’s not for everyone or every occasion. For many, email is still best for sharing photos among a more select group of friends or family. And now we’re making it all that much easier for you.”
Xoopit seems over the moon with the new deal. They have updated their homepage screaming Yahoo! everywhere. On their company blog they said that “the Xoopit team today sees this acquisition as an exceptional path for us in achieving our vision. Over the last few months, we have left every conversation with the Yahoo! team thinking that together we can wow the world”
The specific financial deal has not been revealed but it is estimated to be in the region of $20 million. That amount of money is no chump change for a new group of start-up creators who will hopefully go on to create even better websites and services in the future.
Windows sidebar in Windows Vista has its limitations. The size and functionality are basic as with most windows standard programs. You have your sticky notes, weather RSS feeds and downloadable extras. None the less, it’s all very basic. You can’t get the greatest of extras and the news feeds can really get annoying as they all seem to come from Wall Street. Numerous companies have introduced alternatives however few have succeeded to the extent that Sobees have.
The company based in Switzerland has launched a new desktop program that allows you view just about everything that you can think of in the form of handy little desktop widgets. One of the best things I noticed about Sobees is the Sync feature. You sign in when you first launch the program on you PC and then it stays open for good until you close it. But, if you go on another PC that has Sobees and sign in it will sync all of your feeds, widgets and sticky notes to that PC until you sign out. This is great if you’re away from the office but need your news feeds, e-mails and widgets in one place. It’s also a feature the other companies have overlooked completely.
Another thing that I liked was how customizable it all was. As you can see from the screenshot it’s very attractive to the eye and you can shift and shape things to suite your needs. The colours and the themes are great. However, if you go extreme on this front it will slow down considerably.
The widgets are extensive in number. I enjoyed reading news whilst twittering about it without ever opening a browser. There are tons for download but many of these are very specific so don’t expect a library of useful widgets.
In total, it’s much better than Windows Sidebar and the other alternatives out there.
It’s all about security this week in the tech world. Google are under the spotlight concerning security in their upcoming Google Chrome OS and Norton 2010 is turning heads. Now, Mozilla Firefox is to receive an update (3.0.12) which will close several major security loop holes in their popular browser.
“We strongly recommend that all Firefox 3.0.x users upgrade to this latest release,” Mozilla said on its developer blog. “If you already have Firefox 3, you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. This update can also be applied manually by selecting ‘Check for Updates…’ from the Help menu.”
It is recommended that users download the update so that they remain secure online. Using credit cards and even just keeping your browsing habits safe is a difficult task these days so the last thing you want is a browser that lets unsavoury programs or people peer into your bank account.
However, this will be one of the last, if not the last update for the browser. As of January 2010, no more updates will be made available to users of the 3.0.’X’ series as Mozilla try to pedal their newest browser, Firefox 3.5 to users.
So 3G is what we’re all looking for in terms of surfing the web, checking e-mails and streaming video. It’s modern, cool and new – not to mention useful. It’s only starting to take off now since the release of the first touch screen smart-phones that give you HTML browsing – not like 2007 when all you could do was see mobile web slightly faster.
Now a Japanese company by the name of NTT DoCoMo (the company that first introduced 3G back in 2001, but the world failed to adopt it for years) now say that they will introduce 4G in 2010 and that they are confident that the world will get behind them this time.
“We went first and when we looked behind us there was nobody there.” Said the company’s president when asked about the 2001 launch of 3G.
However, even though the future certainly lies with 4G, I can’t see it catching on so quickly. 3G is at its height now and
basic business strategy is that you don’t stop selling until the product does. Then you move on. I admire DoCoMo’s enthusiasm but even though it’s been over eight years since they introduced 3G, it’s only been three or four for the rest of the world.
They are really starting to push what 4G can do in the hope of winning over big companies into adopting the service. They claim that it will be able to stream movies and live TV anywhere where there is a hint of service at speeds approaching 300Mbs. In summary, I would say it will be a few years until we start seeing 4G around these parts.
