Geeky Tech Stuff

7 Stunning Twitter Apps For iPad

2011-03-19T22:09:00.003+05:30

With an iPad you have a problem of plenty when you want to go for Apps and the Twitter client category is no different with plenty of good apps, the best way to choose the App that best suits you depends on the way you use Twitter, Here are 7 best twitter apps for your iPad to choose from.

Osfoora HD

Osfoora HD for iPad is a blazing fast and clean twitter client for your iPad. Provides elegant and easy access to all of Twitter’s functionalities. Osfoora HD has all the features of Osfoora for iPhone and more. With a gorgeous user interface, multiple account support, optional full landscape mode, text expander, boxcar support, twitter lists, nearby tweets, and the ability to tweet songs. Using twitter becomes whole lot of fun.

Twitterrific

Now a universal app for both iPad & iPhone, Twitterrific a Twitter client that’s beautiful to look at easy to use and full of elegant features. Effortlessly read and compose tweets, search Twitter.com, filter message types and much more. With exciting features like Unified display for replies, re-tweets, direct messages, mentions,Filter timeline for specific tweet types & trends, link shortening, email & tweet translation & more. With the Pro version you get to manage additional Twitter accounts, Remove advertising from the timeline.

Echofon Pro

Echofon Pro works both iPhone and iPad! Echofon is an easy to use, super-fast Twitter app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This pro version works on iPad too!

It is easy to do common Twitter tasks such as viewing your timeline, messages, replies, lists and favorites. Echofon has a powerful tweet-authoring where you can write tweets, take photos/videos and update your current location. When another Echofon user (iPhone or desktop) sends you a Direct Message or @reply, you can be notified instantly via push notification. Get your friends to use Echofon and you can send Twitter messages instead of SMS! You also can receive push notifications from users of other Twitter apps with the pro version.

TweetDeck for iPad

TweetDeck is a classy Twitter client and is the best way to stay in touch with what’s happening now on Twitter for your iPad. TweetDeck’s iPad optimized interface shows you everything you want to see at once, so you can stay organized and up to date wherever you are.

Twitepad

Twitepad is an iPad Twitter client that supports multiple user accounts and multiple columns on your screen.
Your iPad screen will be divided by your Twitter columns and by your webbrowser.

If you want to quickly open a few links from your Twitter friends have sent you, just tap at the links one by one, they will all be opened in a thumb view first and you can view the full website, when you just tap on the preview – no further loading is needed. The integrated web browser make this one a must try app.

This is the fastest way you ever read through your Twitter news.

Twitter for iPad

With Twitter's official iPad App you get a simple neat App with decent features. Realtime search, Top Tweets, trending topics and maps show whats happening now everywhere and nearby. Tweet, send DMs, share photos, videos and links to your friends and the world.

TweetTime for iPad

TweetTime is a power packed Twitter client with some really useful features like Uploading photos from your photo library, Uploading your location with Google Map, Built-in web browser to view web links, Built-in URL shortening, Saving draft of the tweet if you cancel composing tweet. And you can continue to compose it continuously when you re-composing tweet, Geotagging Support. You can post geotagged tweets & a lots more.

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3 Cool News Apps for Android and iPad

2011-03-03T21:49:00.009+05:30

For those who love getting all the news they like on a platter, the first generation RSS(really simple syndication) aggregators was a good bet. There was the entire gamut of RSS readers , be it desktop-based or web based that looked the same. While they were functional, they were not cool. They were bland and boring. But thanks to the iPad and the smartphone wave that shows no signs of abating, a new generation of free news and magazine apps have hit the online market. Here are three apps that make the cut from the iPad and the Android universe.

Pulse

One of the big favorites is pulse, an App developed by two Indian students from Stanford University. Their big moment of fame came at an Apple event last year when Steve Jobs, while explaining the functionalities of the iPad, spoke about the "Wonderful RSS reader". And before they knew it, Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta, saw their App spiral to the top of the iTunes chart as one of the most preferred news aggregators. There was more good news for their company, as they raised over U.S $80,000 through venture capital and moved to their own office in Palo Alto, the buzz town of Silicon Valley.

Pulse has an exciting new design that makes RSS syndication more visual and more fun. And what's more interesting is they have made it easier to gather news links that circulate on your Facebook and Twitter networks. On Pulse, users can Choose up to 60 news sources, ranging from top notches such as CNN, Wall Street Journal and New Yorker to slightly unorthodox sources such as top blogs , including Engadget, TechCrunch and Huffington Post, and get them served on movable tiles. It is both aesthetically pleasing and highly functional.

Flud

Another App that closely resembles Pulse but is available at this point just for the iPad is Flud. It is pretty much similar to the Pulse news App, save one difference. It aggregates stories based on categories rather than news sources. Otherwise, the tiling and the "feel" of the App is pretty much similar to the Pulse. Readers get to choose from various sources and individual articles open in panes. Aesthetically pleasing, Flud is another App that makes news consumption a joy.

Flipboard

The Flipboard focuses more on a personalized social magazine, drawing from social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and creating a mash of recommended links and articles. The design is pretty modern as users sign into a slideshow of all the various news sources that are active on their networks. From there on, they visually scan the stories and click and pick the articles they want to read. There are also seamless integrations of friends' feeds from Facebook. If you consider what your friends do as "news" meant for consumption and don't mind the intrusion, then the flipboard is pretty handy to have.

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8 Of The Best Firefox Extensions For Twitter

2011-02-15T18:28:00.009+05:30

Chances are good you have a Twitter account and chances are even better that you use the Firefox browser and if the answer is yes then here are some of the best Firefox Twitter Extensions to do it all in your browser with ease.

1.TwitterBar

TwitterBar is a simple extension that allows you to post to Twitter from Firefox’s address bar. A small Twitter icon is to the right of the address bar; clicking on it will publish your tweet, and you can place your mouse over it to see how many characters you have to work with.

2.Echofon

Echofon is a really cool extension. It will display updates in a calendar, access to multiple Twitter accounts, get the number of unread in the status bar of Firefox, manage all your tasks such as direct messaging and of course you synchronize it with the iPhone app.

3.Tweetbeat Firsthand

Tweetbeat Firsthand automatically brings you recent Twitter-updates from people mentioned in the context of the web page you’re looking at. Just mouse-over the little blue icons inserted next to names to see firsthand updates.

4.Power Twitter

As the name suggests it is a Powerful Twitter extension that lets you share pictures on Twitter via TwitPic. You can also view the original link hidden behind a short URL(as you get to see in the web client), search for a specific user or update your Facebook status.

5.Twitbin

Twitbin is a comprehensive firefox extension that allows you to keep up with all of your Twitter conversations right from your browser's sidebar. Send messages, receive messages, share links, and lots more.

6.Twitzer

Twitzer is a Firefox extension which lets you post text longer than 140 characters on Twitter.com. It also resolves short URL links to original links.

7.TwitrPix Express

This is a really handy extension it lets you share any photo from any website on Twitter by right-clicking on the photo and clicking “Share photo on Twitter using TwitrPix” — while you browse and without having to leave the site you are on.

8.Yoono

This one is for all your social networks not just twitter and instant messaging into one application. Get all the updates, update your status and share them through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and lots more.

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10 Fascinating Facts About Microsoft & Apple

2011-02-04T20:27:00.006+05:30

Microsoft and Apple the Tech Titans have some fascinating facts in their history, here are a few.

1.The first Operation System Microsoft coded was Xenix, which was a version of UNIX under a different name. But it was MS-DOS made for IBM PCs that gave it a foothold in the software market.

2.Bill Gates wrote a class scheduling program for his school. He tweaked the program’s code so that he was placed in classes with mostly female students.

3.Microsoft fashioned the use of code names for under-development software and systems. For instance, Windows 7 was ‘Vienna’. Wikipedia has a complete list.

4.Did you know that you can’t create a folder named ‘con’ in Windows?

5.The name of Microsoft's search engine ‘Bing’ has its origins in Bingo. Just like the game, it was meant to suggest that something looked for has been found or realized. ‘Bang’ was also proposed because it was memorable, short, and easy to spell. Finally, Bing was chosen for the same reasons.

6.Ironically, Microsoft’s Macintosh Business Unit is one of the largest developers of Macintosh software outside of Apple Inc. Also, Microsoft Office for Mac was introduced for Macintosh in 1989, a year before Office was released for Windows.

7.Fortune magazine named Apple as the most admired company in the United States in 2008; and in the world in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

8.The original Apple logo had Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. It was replaced by the one we are more familiar with. To differentiate the silhouette of the apple from a cherry, the ‘bite’ was put in.

9.‘Macintosh’ is in fact a variety of apple. It also was the first commercially successful personal computer that resembles the ones we use today. It was the first ones to have a graphical user interfaces (GUI) and mouse instead of command line interfaces.

10.The flag bearer for Apple Inc, the Macintosh, wasn’t the brainchild of the two Steve’s. Jef Raskin an expert in human-computer interaction started and inspired the Apple Macintosh line. He also coined the name.

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6 Must Have Android Apps For Bloggers

2011-01-17T16:14:00.005+05:30

If you are a blogger owning a smartphone powered by Android, your options are plenty for Mobile blogging without any compromise on quality of the content or presentation of the post and not just that you do it all on the go without your notebook, with the Apps that you get these days one can do it all from planning a post, designing the image to checking the analytics for the post once it is published, here are 6 apps that you should have in your Android phone if you are a blogger.

WordPress:

WordPress is a gem of an application for Android which will allows you to edit post, add images, publish it and even easy to manage comments too. With latest version you can easily add pages and media to your post to make it more useful and you will receive comment notifications as well. It’s a must have application for bloggers.

Photoshop:

Images are always an integral part of any blog post and what better than Photoshop to make it 'picture perfect'? Photoshop app will provide you all the features to edit your image and you can add them in your blog post. You can easily crop, rotate, color correct, add different texture and effects to your images and upload it online.

Blogaway:

Blogaway is useful for those who use Blogger. It provides you features like multiple account support, tags and labels, interlinks, managing drafts. You can even add images from Picasa and videos from YouTube. The new beta version is providing you WordPress option as well. If you are Blogger user, it’s well worth trying it out.

Quickpedia:

Quickpedia is an easy to use app that lets you search through Wikipedia pages and do some quick research on the topic of your choosing and can prove very handy for quick search on your topic and get all the vital informations in no time.

Evernote:

Evernote is in a sense mandatory for all bloggers, on your notebook or mobile phone. We get ideas everywhere and thus it’s vital that as soon as any idea knocks you can note it down, and what better than Evernote to do it? Evernote gives us options to save text, snaps, voice memos and lots more.

Google Analytics:

Google Analytics is awesome application for those who want to keep track of their Google Analytics data on the go. You can check out the summary of your blog. It provides you features like Date range comparison, custom reports, reports via geolocation, regex enabled searches and lots more.

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Top 10 Facebook Status Trends Of 2010 [STATS]

2010-12-18T19:31:00.004+05:30

Yes it’s that time of the year, time for us to look back at the hot topics of the year that were shared on the biggest social network on the planet, Facebook. Every year has its fair share of dramatic happenings and incidents of diversified kinds, and also some Personalities, Movies, Gadgets become the focus point of the discussion and become the buzz, so let’s look back at the top 10 topics that were shared the most this year and find out if your favourite topic of discussion made it to the list or not =).

1. HMU

The acronym for "hit me up" was this year's biggest surprise. In early 2009, the acronym HMU was virtually unheard of. Only a few posts a day contained HMU, and half of them were probably typos. By May, however, it started to grow slowly and was averaging about 20 posts a day. The volume roughly doubled every month, and by the end of 2009 it had risen to 1,600 posts a day—too modest of a number to be on our radar for last year's list.

However, HMU continued to grow aggressively throughout 2010, increasing by about 75 percent each month. By the end of summer, HMU reached 80,000 mentions per day.

2. World Cup

The World Cup was simply the biggest sporting event in 2010, and because of the global presence of Facebook people took to the virtual streets to cheer on their teams and boo their rivals. The start of the games and the finals garnered the most attention, with 1.5 million and 1.3 million mentions, respectively, of "World Cup" and countless more mentions of teams and players. At key moments over the course of the games, as many as 50 percent of all status updates were related to them.

3. Movies

As with last year's list, big movies were much talked about. "Toy Story 3," "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," "Inception," "Alice in Wonderland" and "Iron Man 2" were the five most discussed (in that order).

Naturally, the people updating their status to report on the movie via their mobile phones were able to do so as soon as it ended, while the people reporting on their computers had to get home first. The difference in the spikes between mobile and web gives us an approximation of how long it takes people to get out of the theater, go home and fire up Facebook—about half an hour.

4. iPad and iPhone 4

In May, Apple surpassed long-time rival Microsoft in market capitalization, thanks in large part to two of the most discussed products of the year: the iPad and iPhone 4. These two products combined to account for over 25 million bragging or the occasional condemning posts during the year.

5. Haiti

The impact of the Jan. 12 earthquake was widely felt through status updates. Even though most people were far away, they shared the shock, concern and news both among their friends and to the world. One Boston woman was trapped with a group of 36 fellow travelers in Haiti and took to updating her status to find out from her friends what was happening and to let families know the group was safe.

Within one minute of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake's strike, status updates started rolling in. With the infrastructure in Haiti badly damaged, many of the first reports were from people in the nearby Dominican Republic (where earthquake is "terremoto"), who felt the powerful quake at a distance. Firsthand reports peaked four minutes after the quake hit, at a rate of 120 a minute. It took another couple of hours for the world to learn of the disaster, and a day later people on Facebook were discussing it at a peak rate of 1,800 posts per minute.

6. Justin Bieber

Bieber Fever struck before 2010, but by all accounts this was a standout year for the 15-year-old pop music star. The surge in mentions continued to grow throughout the year, largely following the rise in his career. He started 2010 with the release in January of his biggest hit, "Baby." His Sept. 12 debut on the MTV Video Music Awards attracted the most mentions of him.

7. Games on Facebook

Games are popular applications on Facebook, and references appeared throughout this year's list. The biggest trending phrase was "barn raising." No, there wasn't a mass exodus from cities to the country life among people on Facebook. Instead, they were recruiting their friends to virtual versions of the old-time tradition of a community event to build a new barn. This started when FarmVille launched a barn-raising feature in January. FrontierVille, launched in June, also grew in mentions.

8. Mineros/Miners

The story of the 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for 69 days captivated the world. People globally watched the truly inspiring story unfold as they were rescued one by one after an unimaginable time underground.

The first one occurred exclusively in Chile in August, when the mine first collapsed and contact with the miners was lost. A week later, the miners were miraculously found alive and the rest of the world started to talk about them a little bit, but the story was still predominantly in Chile. Over the course of the next 60 days, the world watched the trials and tribulations as workers above ground scrambled to drill rescue shafts. When the ordeal finally ended, millions of people posted about it.

9. Airplanes

Using the word "airplanes" is nothing new or noteworthy—most years. But in 2010, it burst onto the scene in status messages thanks to the catchy lyrics of the international hit song "Airplanes." A deeper look showed that people were specifically quoting the following line, often times to share a personal wish and sometimes when they were traveling.

10. 2011

Similar to last year, people talked frequently about years in their status updates. People are looking forward to big personal events in the coming year—perhaps a wedding or an expectant child. References to 2011 showed a big spike on Jan. 1, 2010, as people took the new year as an opportunity to look ahead another full year. As the date approaches, mentions have steadily increased, as people make more and more plans for the coming year.

Source: Facebook

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5 Best Facebook Apps You Should Try

2010-12-08T21:10:00.015+05:30

Facebook is whole lot of fun with all its native features but then there are apps to give extra features and fun, games and lots more, i have picked five apps with a mix of games and some interesting applications try it and i am sure you will like these =)

Bejeweled Blitz:

Bejeweled Blitz is the Facebook version of our favorite PopCap game Bejeweled, where you need to swap pairs of jewels to match three or more of the same colour, creating cascades and scoring points. The key thing in this version is that it enables you to challenge your friends or even work alongside them to earn prizes.

There are a few bunch surprises in this version of the game, including bonuses for completing levels at speed and multiplier gems to add new challenges. You can try some practice games before getting launched into the competition, Its real fun.

Networked Blogs:

Networked Blogs enables you to monitor your favorite blogs using Facebook and see new posts appearing in your news stream. You can also use it to promote your own blog to other interested Facebook users, and discover new blogs that your friends enjoy or those that other people with similar interests to yours recommend.

When you start using the application you need to subscribe to at least five blogs, then you can start finding new ones or promoting your own and it has its own subscription as mentioned earlier which helps increasing your blog traffic.It has Twitter support as well, for posting your blog post on twitter automatically.

PuzzleBee:

PuzzleBee suits jigsaw lovers everywhere. Use it to create new jigsaws from your own Facebook photos, or compete against other users to finish the "jigsaw of the day" puzzle in the shortest time.

Unlike other online puzzles, you can rotate pieces as well as move them around, and you can change the number of pieces in each puzzle to alter the level of difficulty. As you complete different puzzles you move up the hierarchy, in a quest to progress from Baby Bee to Queen PuzzleBee.

DivShare:

The DivShare application links your Facebook account to its online storage service, so you can use it to share documents, photos, music and videos with your friends. It enables you to link your files with your profile, or post them on friends' walls.

You can even share them in your news feed. Files can be up to 200MB in size and you can have unlimited storage space on the DivShare servers. You can host anything that meets the terms of service for free, as long as your account lasts, and you don't have to register.

My Flickr:

My Flickr enables you to display your Flickr photos and photo sets to your Facebook friends without them leaving Facebook. It's a third-party application, not officially supported by Flickr, and you need to authorise the app in your Flickr account settings.

The application respects your Flickr privacy settings, so only photos you've marked as public will be shown on Facebook. You can also pick shots to showcase your photography on your profile. You can select these from a simple search.

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4 Best Tools To Get Your Online Life Settled

2010-12-04T17:17:00.011+05:30

Grappling with your online existence? or is there a way to organise it better? and the answer is 'yes' =)

Evernote:

One of the more popular note-taking software around, Evernote has become a chart-topper in all software reviews. You can take notes, audio notes, clip web pages while browsing(plugins available for internet browsers) and even click a photo and post a note to it. Evernote is one of the top downloads in mobile and PC platforms.

The free version though has a cap on the amount of files you can upload in a month.It is restricted to 40 MB whereas the premium version allows 500 MB of uploads a month.But despite this it is a very handy service and worth trying out. More so now because Livescribe, a digital smart pen that could well be on every tech enthusiast's wish list, has offered support for Evernote.

Dropbox:

Another interesting service that may not offer the level and depth of Evernote but is extremely handy is the Dropbox. It is , as explained by the company's YouTube promotional video, like a magic purse. You just drop all your files into it and rest assured that it is safe residing in the cloud computing servers, for you to download later at your convenience in any device of your choice. It offers up to 2 GB free storage and one could even host a small website entirely out of the Dropbox server.

Delicious:

As far as bookmarks manager, its still the old faithful Delicious. One of the first full fledged bookmarks manager on the cloud. Delicious scores with its simplicity. Get store all your favorite websites and online resources on the cloud, so that you can access them from anywhere. The Delicious plug-in is available for all the browsers, Works best with Mozilla Firefox. Also do note that Xnote is another highly recommended bookmarks manager. But the thing about bookmarks servive is, once you are in, just stick with one service. Better that way.

Nimbuzz:

There are plenty of services that let you connect to multiple IM services under one roof. Nimbuzz is one of the many that has generated positive hype among smartphone users. With one secure login via Nimbuzz, users can chat with friends across all popular IM services. The recent additions include Facebook Connect. Nimbuzz also allows users to make free VoIP calls. Other notable mentions for similar Services include Meebo, Snaptu.

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HOW TO: Make Your YouTube Video Go Viral

2010-11-27T18:22:00.007+05:30

All those who are crazy about using YouTube and uploading their videos aspire for one thing in common, they want their video to go Viral. Its not easy, but its not very tough either, Follow these steps below and sure your video is the next viral video in YouTube.

Hold on before you start, download few of the top viral videos and check the following golden rules:

☞ Why is it a huge LOL product?
☞ What’s the USP of the video?
☞ What makes it look offbeat?
☞ And finally why people are crazy to share it?

Now here are some steps to follow once you get started:

Should look real:

The unique fact about viral videos is that they don’t need to look professional. Strangely enough, many of the top videos are created by very expensive videographers… to look home-made. Plan your videos before starting. Script the main scenes. Do it take several times till you are convinced that it is perfect.

Video Length:

Short is Super. Create 20 minutes of video if you want but then edit it back to 100 seconds. Use good video editing tools like Adobe Premiere, If the video is short, its file size is small meaning it’s easy to send/share across the web and mobile phones.

Engaging Headlines:

When you upload it to YouTube, DIGG and others, write highly engaging headlines that make people want to click on it and see what’s inside.

Again, study how other videographers do this and then copy their style. Look at the top 20 videos on DIGG every day and you’ll get the idea.

Selecting a Category Wisely:

Predict where people will look for your videos and enter them in the right category. Its better if you you avoid crowded categories. Look at areas that others tend to ignore and focus on those.

Spin a Story:

Even if you have a reallly good video, its all about how you promote the video with a story spun around it by a series of promotional videos about the main video. People generally fall for stories use it to your advantage, but never cross the line.

Use Social Media:

The biggest weapon for you to promote your video is Socail Media and its all about using it effectively. Use Twitter and Facebook extensively to promote your videos and slowly it will go viral.

Remember success is not instant, keep working on your video and sure it will go viral.

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5 Best Desktop Twitter Tools Beyond TweetDeck

2010-11-19T17:43:00.009+05:30

When it comes to Desktop Twitter clients TweetDeck is the only thing that comes to our mind, there are few other Desktop clients worth trying as well, here are five clients that i have picked:

1.Seesmic for Windows

Seesmic for Windows is an elegant desktop client for Twitter with a slightly transparent tabbed interface. Seesmic for Windows can handle multiple Twitter accounts – you can get a integrated timeline or look at your replies, direct messages and sent messages for each account separately. You can post the same updates/links/photos to one or more Twitter account simultaneously. This is a native Windows application and doesn’t require Adobe AIR which is an added advantage.

2.Twhirl

Twhirl is an quick and easy-to-use Twitter client with a simple yet terrific interface. You can even choose your own color schemes and font styles for the interface. Unlike heavy-weights like Seesmic or TweetDeck, Twhirl doesn’t offer loads of features but if all you need is a way to quickly post status updates on your Twitter timeline, this could be a good choice. Twirl also offers integration with other less-common networks such as identi.ca and FriendFeed, and lets you cross-post updates to other social networks via Ping.fm. Twhirl is from Seesmic, the same company the develops previously mentioned Seesmic Desktop for AIR and Seemsmic for Windows.

3.DigiTweet

DigiTweet is an open source desktop Twitter application for Windows. Through Windows Presentation Foundation, DigiTweet provides Twitter features with rich user interface. It’s notable features include search facility for finding other twitter users as well as Twitter contents, and a friends list for viewing Twitter users you are following and who are following you.

4.DestroyTwitter

DestroyTwitter, an Adobe AIR powered Twitter desktop client, is very popular for its minimalistic but innovative interface. The unique thing about Destroy Twitter is its support for Themes – you can either download default themes or use the online theme-builder to create one that matches your taste. DestroyTwitter uses impressive transitions when switching from one screen to another and it’s probably the only desktop client that lets you edit your own Twitter profile. Then there’s support for Twitter trends so that you can know what’s hot on Twitter without having to visit the Twitter site. Destroy Twitter is lightweight and extremely fast. You can also configure the application so that it always stays on top of other applications.

5.Snitter

Snitter is an Adobe AIR powered Twitter client compatible for Windows. Snitter offers auto updates tweet list, recent list of tweets, 20 most recent items in your timeline, 20 most recent replies, 20 most recent direct messages and more. Further, it has options for viewing and filtering the followers.

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4 Best Twitter Tools For Scheduling Your Tweets

2010-11-14T21:31:00.009+05:30

No time to sit all day on Twitter?, Schedule your tweets and stop worrying, here are the 4 best tools for you to do so-

1.Twuffer

Twuffer is one of the best in class. It is the easiest and fastest to use for scheduling a tweet. The huge favour it does to those impatient users like me is that it doesn’t require me to sign up for a Twuffer user account. Many services require you to sign up with their site, in addition to your existing Twitter account, in order to link the two together and use the service. Many of us don’t like having many different logins to remember, There are enough things to mess up in our lives. =)

To login to Twuffer, just type in your Twitter information and thats all you need to do! The interface couldn’t be simpler and it keeps track of your past and future scheduled tweets.Simplicity is just what you need?, Then "this is your cup of tea" =)

2.SocialOomph

SocialOomph demands registration with email activation, having said that you get lots of cool features (most are free). From scheduling tweets, automatically following and unfollowing tweeps doing the same, save drafts , create extended profiles to display more personal info. By upgrading to the optional professional version, it gives you many more features such as Facebook integration, keyword tracking and recurring updates.

SocialOomph works reasonably well, i use it and its my favourite app in its kind, but some might find it looking a little complicated in the way the features are organised. However it’s still a very useful app anyway.

3.Hootsuite

Hootsuite is one app that needs no introduction because of its huge popularity. Its a good package in terms of features just like SocialOomph. The interface is elegant, customizable, One should be 'wow'ed by the way it works with its AJAX technology.

Even though it’s overkill for scheduling tweets, it’s still simple enough to use for just that purpose. It has other time-saving features, such as automatic updates of your blog feeds into Twitter and threaded converstions can be very useful for those who follow thousands of tweeps.

4.CoTweet

Frankly i knew CoTweet only after seeing Aaron (@AskAaronLee) using it all the time. It has a clean interface, which seems to have become a must for Twitter apps. Apart from scheduling tweets, CoTweet will save all incoming and sent messages for you to view later if needed. One of its more unique features is the ability to assign a tweet to a friend, or someone else to follow up on. This can be very useful for businesses.

CoTweet does require you to register an account with them, but it’s all for good. You can link your CoTweet account with up to 5 of your Twitter accounts and manage them all under one roof. This saves a lot of time and lets you schedule tweets for multiple accounts from one place.Now you know why businesses use CoTweet.

I hope it was useful to you tweeps =) and i would love to hear from you on which is your favourite app, so write your comments!

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'Apple TV', All You Need To Know

2010-10-28T16:26:00.008+05:30

When Apple TV was launched four years ago, it bombed - but this autumn, with YouView Apple has one more shot. The new Apple TV is tiny not much bigger than the iPhone and costs just $99 . Its exterior temperature is also far less alarming. The hard drive has been stripped out. To use, it's as simple as a set-top box, with Internet radio, films and your home PC video libraries popping up from a single menu. You can also watch YouTube, although typing via remote is an unbearable fiddle that leaves co-viewers fidgeting. Whatever you're watching though is colourful and clear - although it's 720p, not full HD.

Rival film rental services offered by game consoles largely offfer 'male interest' films packed with aliens and explosions. Apple TV is refershingly uni-sex. And it's far better controlling it using an iPhone app than the finicky metal remote.

3D soundscape

Now, 3D soundscape to updates your Facebook, Twitter. AudioFeeds, software that provides 3D soundscape, could soon be alerting you, via your headphones, to updates on your social network and news feeds. The software announces Facebook updates such as friend requests with watery sounds like drips, bubbles and splashes. Bird calls are reserved for Twitter, while musical sounds such as didgeridoo or wind chime alert you to news stories. It achieves the 3D effect by adjusting the phase, or timing of the sounds delivered to your left and right earphones. The idea is to tell you what is going on in your social networks in a non-intrusive way.

Overall the Apple TV is all about getting the max out of your TV viewing experience.

So tell me if you are impressed and will by one? =)

Top 5 Best Twitter Apps For iPhone

2010-10-23T21:48:00.006+05:30

Brizzly for Twitter

Rather than trying to be all things to all users, Brizzly (free) focuses on providing a simple and clean user interface with a focus on the key features that most Twitter users are likely to need. A main menu provides quick access to the user’s timeline, mentions, direct messages, and favorites as well as options to view their own profile, tweets, or perform a search. Twitter timelines are presented as a series of conversation bubbles which you can tap on to view more details. Brizzly also nicely provides a timestamp bookmark whenever new tweets are loaded so you can see where you left off in your Twitter stream. Brizzly is not a direct Twitter client, but interfaces with Twitter through the Brizzly.com service.

Echofon / Echofon Pro

Twitterfon, has been renamed Echofon and split into two versions: the standard Echofon remains free, but is now ad-supported. A paid version, Echofon Pro ($5), removes the ads and provides global Push Notification support. It’s also worth noting that users can upgrade from the free version to the Pro version via in-app purchase, which saves users the trouble of having to install the Pro version separately and reconfigure all of their settings.

Over the past year Echofon has continued to advance with a facelift and support for numerous new features, including Twitter Lists, new-style retweets, saved searches and video support. Echofon displays the standard bottom menu bar to allow you to choose from the main timeline, mentions or direct messages as well as browsing lists and performing searches. All links are active in the main timeline, allowing you to quickly open a link by tapping directly in the timeline, however this can also make it difficult to get to the detailed tweet view as you need to be careful to tap away from any active links. Replies can also be shown in a threaded conversation view, and links can be saved to either Instapaper or Read It Later.

HootSuite / HootSuite Lite

HootSuite is an iPhone Twitter client targeted primarily at users of the HootSuite Professional desktop solution. Users can choose to sign in to their existing HootSuite account, create a new account or simply add Twitter accounts directly without connecting to the HootSuite service. HootSuite is available in two versions: The full HootSuite ($2) provides support for unlimited Twitter accounts and built-in statistics tracking. The free HootSuite Lite version is limited to three accounts and does not provide stats.

Compared to other iPhone Twitter clients, HootSuite provides relatively basic functionality at this point, with its strongest focus being on its desktop integration. Different streams are shown in a menu layout for each account, with a menu bar at the bottom allowing quick access to stats, search and settings options. The timelines themselves are presented in a standard view and users can swipe left and right to quickly switch between timelines.

SimplyTweet

SimplyTweet($5) provides the standard three streams for friends, mentions and direct messages as well as a search option. Users can choose from several attractive themes to display timelines. New tweets are highlighted and viewing and reading tweets works in the usual way. SimplyTweet provides a landscape view for both reading and composing, a threaded conversation view and user profile and follower management. Links can be saved to Instapaper for later reading.

When composing new tweets, users can post photos or videos, add a map link to the current location and shorten URLs or shorten text. Oddly, the iPhone camera can be used to take pictures, but videos can only be uploaded from the saved photo library.

TweetDeck

TweetDeck (free) for the iPhone stems from a companion desktop application of the same name, and its design is heavily influenced by its desktop sibling. Rather than the standard multi-page UI that most Twitter apps have adopted, TweetDeck uses a customizable column paradigm instead, with each stream separated into its own column. Users can move between columns either by swiping left or right or tapping on the Columns button to display a zoomed-out column browsing view. Although TweetDeck starts users out with a default set of columns, every view is fully customizable, so users can choose which streams they want to view, and add additional customized streams for saved searches, Twitter Lists, or local groups.

A total number of updates from all columns is shown in the bottom left corner, and tapping on this button brings up a detailed list of the number of new items in each column. You can skip to the appropriate column by tapping on its name in the unread items listing. TweetDeck synchronizes columns with its desktop counterpart via a separate TweetDeck account, but it’s worth noting that not all column types are synchronized at this point: For example, local groups and locally saved searches sync, however Twitter List columns do not.

Which is your fav twitter app?, i would love to hear from you! =)

Top 10 Most Popular Facebook Pages [Stats]

2010-10-16T22:20:00.006+05:30

Though the King of Pop is no more, His music lives forever and he still rocks with the number of fans he has and the astonishing numbers tell the story. Anyway its not all about MJ there are 9 others in the list as well, So have a look =)

1.Texas Hold’em Poker 23,521,992 Fans
2.Michael Jackson 19,427,673 Fans
3.Facebook 17,836,114 Fans
4.Lady Gaga 17,155,599 Fans
5.Family Guy 16,598,881 Fans
6.Vin Diesel 14,918,771 Fans
7.Mafia Wars 13,756,185 Fans
8.Starbucks 13,206,824 Fans
9.House 13,202,945 Fans
10.Barack Obama 13,080,589 Fans

Some Key Facts:

*Barack Obama is now the only politician on the list, taking number 10 with 13 million Likes.

*Musicians rule in terms of raw numbers of Likes on Facebook: Michael Jackson in second place with 19 million fans, Lady Gaga at number 4 with 17 million.

*Zynga’s Texas Hold’em Poker takes the cake with 23 million fans while Mafia Wars comes in 7th with 13 million.

*Actors were also popular on the list: Number 6 Vin Diesel with 14 million Likes.

*Movies, or at least movies popular with teenagers, were also present(But not in the Top 10): “The Twilight Saga” came in at number 12(But do not feature in this list).

*Television shows: “Family Guy” in fifth place with 16 million Likes,“Dr. House” at number 9 with 13 million.

*Global consumer brands filled out the rest of the list: Facebook’s Page third with 17 million Likes, Starbucks eigth with 13 million.

So which one is your favourite page?, do share with me! =)

Top 20 Twitter Lists [Stats]

2010-10-16T14:56:00.006+05:30

Wondering about which are the top Twitter lists?, here is the list of the Top 20 Twitter lists:

1.TopBrasil-helphaiti by rafadefine

old @TopBrasil-txatatxa (#HELPHAITI) - Nome alterado para a tag ser vista pelo mundo todo.

107,344 followers 44 following

2.Team by twitter

75,751 followers 223 following

3.all by NBCOlympics

13,463 followers 88 following

4.Mashable by mashable

7,861 followers 23 following

5.most influential in tech by Scobleizer

People who make stuff happen in and to the technology industry.

7,048 followers 255 following

6.social media by mashable

5,562 followers 95 following

7.Tech News Brands by Scobleizer

The most complete list of tech news sources (from the BBC tech pages to TechCrunch).

5,292 followers 495 following

8.qccast by jephjacques

4,085 followers 12 following

9.Design Links by imrogb

Pretty much all the #design links you will ever need! Turn off your RSS!

3,642 followers 96 following

10.Tech News People by Scobleizer

The journalists who make tech and media news. Mostly pros, but a few bloggers too who do great work.

3,278 followers 500 following

11.marketing by mashable

3,196 followers 51 following

12.Top 500 Follow All Back by SocialSmarter

#1 Followers List.

2,961 followers 490 following

13.Best of Photography by petapixel

2,949 followers 29 following

14.elenco by programapanico

2,876 followers 37 following

15.Creatives To Watch by Behance

2,654 followers 137 following

16.astronauts in space now by NASA

[currently none] Astronauts aboard space station or shuttle who are tweeting from orbit

2,645 followers 1 following

17.founders by Scobleizer

People who started companies or entrepreneurs in tech industry.

2,600 followers 500 following

18.superstars by WWE

A list of the Superstars of WWE on Twitter ... in 140 characters or less.

2,470 followers 46 following

19.Weapons for Entrepreneurs by Scobleizer

Tools and services to help entrepreneurs startup and run their companies.

2,421 followers 329 following

20.venture_capitalists by Scobleizer

Venture capitalists and angel investors (tech centric, very complete list).

2,391 followers 486 following

Have your own favorite lists?, share with me, i would love to hear from you =)

Top 5 Secrets About Microsoft.com

2010-10-15T21:37:00.004+05:30

1.Download Office Templates, Add-Ins, and Clip Art

While we’re on the topic of downloading, there are a ton of templates, add-ins, and clip art available on the Microsoft.com site for every Microsoft Office application from Word to PowerPoint. You can find all these files on the Microsoft Office Online site (office.microsoft.com)—which is also a great site to find information and advice on all Office applications.

2.Find Other Sites to Download Windows Desktop Themes
and Such

Microsoft.com isn’t the only site that offers Windows utilities, desktop themes, and the like. There are a number of other worthy sites on the Web, most of which offer a selection of free downloads (and in few cases paid ones, as well). If you’re interested in enhancing your version of Windows, check out the sites below

Non-Microsoft Sites for Windows Downloads:

Desktop Links - www.desktoplinks.com
Digital-Burn.com - www.digital-burn.com
GetSkinned.org - www.getskinned.org
Themes Unlimited - www.themesunlimited.com
Top Themes - www.topthemes.com

3.Check Out the Projects They’re Working On at
Microsoft Research

The folks at Microsoft are always working on something new. The newest of the new is found at the Microsoft Research site (research.microsoft.com), which details all the projects in process at Microsoft’s research labs. What kind of products are we talking about? How about an auto DJ; collaborative video viewing; data management, exploration, and mining; junk e-mail filtering (yay!); machine learning and perception; or something called the World Wide Telescope. Want to learn more? Then explore the Microsoft Research Web site—and learn the secrets of what cool Microsoft products are coming next.

4.Use Microsoft.com to Update All Your Microsoft Software

Microsoft doesn’t update just Windows over the Internet; it’s constantly offering bug fixes and patches for all its products, from Office to Visual Studio. Most bug fixes don’t need to be downloaded unless you’re suffering from a paricular problem. However, Microsoft does, on a semi-regular basis, gather all its interim updates for a program together into a big single update that it calls a Service Pack. When a service pack is issued, you probably ought to install it. You can find and download the latest service pack for any Microsoft product on the Service Packs page. Go to the Help and Support page (support.microsoft.com),click the Download Software link, and then click the Service Packs link. Select the product you want to update and then follow the instructions to download and install the service pack.

5.Explore Microsoft’s Other Web Sites

As you’ve seen, Microsoft.com is just one of Microsoft’s many Web sites. There
are a lot more sites to explore if you have a particular interest. For example, Microsoft hosts more than 50 technical community Web sites. These include the product-specific sites for Windows, Office, and so on, as well as more technical sites. You can find a list of these sites by clicking the Communities link on the Microsoft.com home page and then clicking the Find a Community link.
While we’re on the topic of technical sites, let’s not forget the Microsoft Developer’s Network (MSDN), located at msdn.microsoft.com. This site is designed by developers for developers and includes a large library of downloadable code and other useful information. And then there are all of Microsoft’s country-specific sites. Microsoft is a multinational corporation, so it makes sense that it has versions of its Web site for all the major countries in which it operates. Click the Microsoft Worldwide link on the Microsoft.com home page (or go to www.microsoft.com/worldwide/) for a complete list.

Top 7 'Windows Phone 7' Phones

2010-10-11T22:58:00.003+05:30

1.HTC HD7

Perhaps the most desirable of all the Windows Phone 7 smartphones, the HTC HD7 has a 4.3-inch, 480 x 800 WVGA multi-touch TFT LCD screen, the default 1GHz processor, 16GB internal storage, 5MP camera that captures 720p video and also has a kickstand on the back (much like the HTC Evo).

2.LG Optimus 7

With 16 gigabytes of internal storage, a 5 MP camera, and a candybar format this phone will have a familiar feel to ex-iPhone users.

3.HTC Mozart

With a stunning 3.7 inch screen, the Mozart is sure to impress. Sporting a 8MP camera with flash and Dolby Mobile ‘virtual surround sound’ and snap just as good as it looks. It comes with a 1GHz processor, half a gigabyte of RAM and a comfortable 8 gigabytes of internal storage.

While it is not the prettiest phone, it’s specs are sure to woo WP7 fans.

4.Dell Venue Pro

Dell’s addition to the mix is a slider phone (vertically) with a 4.1 inch screen. Why might this phone be a hit? it is rather handsome.

5.HTC Trophy

This might be the cheapest of all the WP7 phones, as it has specs on the very low end of the spectrum. The camera will only record 720P, but it does have 8 gigabytes of storage and a half a gig of RAM.

6.HTC 7 Pro

Its keyboard and this phone’s 16 gigabytes of internal storage are what make it different from its friends.

7.HTC Surround

It has a 1GHz processor, 512MB ROM, 576MB RAM, a 3.8-inch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480, 8GB internal storage, MicroSD support, as well as a 5MP camera that is capable of capturing 720p video.

7 Stunning Facts About Twitter [Twitter Facts]

2010-10-10T13:36:00.006+05:30

Twitter has become a big buzz on the web over the last couple of years and here are some facts about it:

1. Twitter was mostly funded through venture capitalists who funded most of the $ 50 million, Twitter is still operating on.

2.Twitter was founded in 2006 and for the first 3 years as a company Twitter made a total of ‘zero’ dollars in revenues.

3. Twitter is expected to make 1.54 billion dollars by the end of 2013 with over a billion users.

4. Twitter has over over 65 millions tweets everyday and that averages to 1000 tweets per second.

5. There are over 70,000 registered applications for Twitter created mostly by people who have no connection to Twitter.

6.The first tweet on Twitter was by Jack Dorsey and the tweet was “Just setting up my twttr” on 21st March 2006.

7.Twitter handles 24 billion search queries a month. Yahoo handles 9.4 billion search queries and Bing handles about 4.1 search queries. This means Twitter is the ranked #2 search engine behind Google which handles about 88 billion search queries.

5 Things You Need To Know About Facebook's New Groups [Facebook Groups]

2010-10-09T20:56:00.007+05:30

The New Facebook Groups has arrived and here are 5 things you need to know about it:

Buddies Only

Since only your Facebook friends can add you to groups, using Facebook as a place to connect with people you actually know becomes more important than ever. Facebook is assuming that your real friends won't use this new power maliciously to add you to groups that might embarrass you, according to Search Engine Land.

If you have 1000 Facebook friends, but you actually know only half of them, the chances you'll be added to groups you don't want to be a part of are probably pretty high. This could expose you to malicious links to phishing sites and other types of Facebook malware. Then again, friending people you didn't know was probably putting you at risk for malicious behavior long before the new groups feature appeared.

Power Option

Everyone probably knows a few jokers who might think it's funny to add you to a group with a controversial title. But if there's a trend to add people to joke groups, my guess is these pranks will die off pretty quickly. If one of your friends doesn't cut it out with the joke groups, you always have the option to unsubscribe. In fact, unsubscribing is more powerful than you might realize.

When Arrington added Zuckerberg to the NAMBLA joke group, the Facebook CEO unsubscribed. Not only did that keep Zuckerberg out of NAMBLA, but it also blocked Arrington from ever adding Zuckerberg to another group.

That might be a bit extreme, but it shows that Facebook wants you to make prudent choices about the groups you pull your friends into. Again, however, I have to reiterate there's no question it would be better to opt-in to a new group rather than opt-out.

No Crowd Control

Anyone in a Facebook Group can add their Facebook friends to a group, which could quickly get out of hand if you wanted to limit a group's size. The group administrator does, however, have the power to delete members and even ban them from the group permanently.

When starting a new group it might be wise to lay down the ground rules with other members if you want to minimize its size.

E-mail Buzz

Groups Notifications (click to enlarge)A lot of early critics are complaining that e-mail notifications for a new group can quickly fill up your inbox. By default, you will get an e-mail for every action taken in a group. To change this, click on "Edit Notifications" or "Edit Settings" in the top right corner of the group page. When the pop-up window appears uncheck the box next to "send email notifications to."

You can also control what kind of Facebook notifications appear on your newsfeed page from this window. Choices include receiving notifications for all group posts or comments, only new posts by group members, only posts by your Facebook friends in that group, or only posts that you've written or commented on.

Still some Buggs

In some tests, the new Groups feature had some strange behavior. Adding new members to a group, for example, often produced error messages. Sometimes the person I wanted to add would be added anyway, sometimes they wouldn't.

And there is difficulty in creating new text documents in groups. However, these problems might be due to the fact that the new functionality hasn't actually rolled out to all account yet.

I would love to hear your comments and your experience with new facebook groups so please share them with me =).

5 Damage Control Tips For Social Media [Social Media]

2010-10-08T17:51:00.005+05:30

1.Gmail goggles

Turn on Mail Goggles before heading out for drinks. The feature, which is a hit with party animals, prevents you from sending out reckless declarations of love or hatred. It makes you do some math before allowing you hit 'Send'. Cant't do the math? You'll need to log off and return tomorrow.

2.Message Recall

Some office mail applications have this option but it only works if the message hasn't been read yet and if the recipient lets you recall it.

3.Facebook faux pas

And finally one for FB, Did your friend upload an unflattering photo of yours and ignore requests to delete it? Click on 'remove tag'. It will still be online but won't show up in your list.

4.No comments

If you made a comment on a public forum and there's no delete option, change your display name so it doesn't show up in search results for your real name.

5.Confidential chat

On Google chat, select "Go off the record" to prevent chats from being saved and reproduced.

Dell Streak Android-Based Tablet [Dell Tablet]

2010-10-08T17:41:00.003+05:30

Connect, listen, watch, surf and play on five inches of power with the Dell Streak Tablet.

Powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8250 mobile processor, it combines the features of a smartphone and a tablet, and has a built-in 3G HSUPA, Wi-fi and Bluetooth.The Gorilla Glass display on the multi-touch WVGA screen resists damage, and integrated social media apps makes networking easier.

There is also a 5 MP camera with flash, expandable memory, and a Snapdragon QSD8250 chipset with integrated 1GHz processor to make multi-tasking easier. The Android open source lets you access and download Google Android Market's Apps.

And at less than 10mm thickness,the Streak slips easily into a pocket or purse.

Top 6 Google Search Secrets [Google]

2010-10-02T22:25:00.009+05:30

If you’re a typical Internet user, you access Google several times a week, if not several times a day. As a typical user, you also don’t use a tenth of Google’s search power—which means you’re not searching as effectively or as efficiently as you could.

Read on, then, to discover the secrets of Google searching—and become a Google power searcher.

1.Why Google Delivers More Targeted Results Than Other
Search Engines?

Like most of the major search engines, Google assembles the pages in its search index by using special “searchbot” or crawler software to scour the Web. Found pages are automatically added to Google’s ever-expanding database; when you perform a search, you’re actually searching this database of Web pages, not the Web itself.

The results of your Google searches are ranked according to Google’s trademarked PageRank technology. This technology measures how many other pages link to a particular page; the more links to a page, the higher that page ranks.

2.Resurrect Dead Pages

What do you do if you click to a Web page in the search results list, but that page no longer exists? (It happens; thousands of older Web pages go dead every day.) You may still be in luck, because Google saves a copy of each page that it indexes as it existed at the time it was indexed. So even if a page is dead and gone, you may still be able to view the cached (saved) version of that page on Google’s server.

To display a specific cached page, use the cache: operator, like this: cache:URL. For example, to display the cached version of Mashable home page, enter cache:www.mashable.com.

3.List Pages That Link to a Specific Page

Want to know which other Web pages are linked to a specific page? Because Google works by tracking page links, this is easy to find out. All you have to do is use the link: operator, like this: link:URL. For example, to see the thousands of pages that link to Microsoft’s Web site, enter link:www.microsoft.com.

4.List Similar Pages

Have you ever found a Web page you really like, and then wondered if there were any more like it on the Web? Wonder no more; you can use Google’s related: operator to display pages that are in some way similar to the specified page. For example, if you really like the news stories on the CNN Web site (www.cnn.com), you can find similar pages by entering related:www.cnn.com.

5.Find Out More about a Specific Page

Google collects a variety of information about the Web pages it indexes. In particular, Google can tell you which pages link to that page (see the link: operator, above), which pages are similar to that page (the related: operator), and which pages contain that page’s URL. To get links to all this information on a single page, use Google’s info: operator. For example, entering info:www.mashable.com. displays the information about Mashable.com

6.Narrow Your Search To A Specific Domain or Website

Maybe you want to search only those sites within a specific top-level Web domain, such as .com or .org or .edu—or, perhaps, within a specific country’s domain, such as .uk (United Kingdom) or .in (India). Google lets you do this by using the site: operator. Just enter the operator followed by the domain name, like this: site:.domain. For example, to search only those sites within the .edu domain, you’d enter site:.edu. To search only Indian sites, enter site:.in. Remember to put the “dot” before the domain. The site: operator can also be used to restrict your search to a specific Web site.

In this instance, you enter the entire top-level URL, like this: site:www .website.domain. For example, to search only within cnn.com, enter site:www.cnn.com. To search only within Microsoft’s Web site www.microsoft.com, enter site:www.microsoft.com. Your results will include only pages listed within the specified Web site.

AOL acquires TechCrunch, How and Why it happened? [TechCrunch]

2010-10-02T18:26:00.006+05:30

Well its a fact that TechCrunch is now in AOL's hands. This is how it all started, according to TechCrunch's Founder Michael Arrington:

"In May I had a chance to interview Tim on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt: New York. After the talk we went to the speaker room for a quick private chat (this happens after most talks unless the speaker has to rush out).

Tim asked me how things were going at TechCrunch. I told him I was exhausted after five years but that a recent move to Seattle made it easier to balance my life. I joked that I was half retired.

“That’s too bad, he said, we’d love to acquire you but we’d need to know you would stick around.”

“Wait. What? Yeah I’m great! Lots of energy, I’m having so much fun! Will probably do this for the rest of my life.” "

As Michael says he stays on(A crucial thing for TechCrunch) and according to him there was no discussion about that thereafter until late july when the discussions started again and the deal came through. The reason why Michael Arrington decided to go for the deal is that he was tired of solving tech issues and engineering issues on the site, he rather wanted to focus only on writing and not breaking his head on solving technical issues.

What it means for 'TechCrunch the Brand'?

The TechCrunch comes under AOL and its blogging network and there is absolutely no worries for TechCrunch on issues concerning the site engineering and they would focus on writing some leg pulling content as they do so often. And to add to that TechCrunch as brand under AOL's Marketing and it should go places.

On a closing note this is what Michael Arrington had to say:

"On a final note, I don’t want to get all teary-eyed here, but the best comment I ever saw on TechCrunch was years ago in response to when I quipped something like “This is my blog and I’ll write what I want” in response to a troll. The response was “No Mike, This is OUR blog. You just work here.” "

Happy Birthday, Mario! [Plumber turns 25]

2010-10-01T17:49:00.003+05:30

Mario is the most identifiable character in the video game history, making innumerable appearances in games that not only see him star as the protagonist, but also as a race car driver, street-fighter, basketball player, snowboarder and all-round brilliant sportsperson. His cameo appearances(often included in games as 'Easter Eggs') are world famous as well.

Created by acclaimed game designer Shigeru Miyamoto back in 1981, Mario would make his debut as a video game character that same year as 'Jumpman', in fact, he would turn 29 this year, but he would make his first appearance as the main protagonist in Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo's NES console only five years later. While Platforming games were not entirely uncommon at the time, they often lacked complexity and depth. Super Mario Bros. would change all of that with a gameplay system whose fundamental mechanics form the basis for platformers of today, a whole 25 years later.

What's new for Mario? Well, with the release of Super Mario Galaxy 2 he has reinforced his position as the video game industry's undisputed champion thanks to a Metacritic aggregate of 97. One of the highest rated games of all time, Super Mario Galaxy 2 develops on the hugely successful Super Mario Galaxy adding features such as co-operative gameplay(a huge hit in New Super Mario Bros. Wii), the ability to ride the dinosaur Yoshi and dozens of new, exciting power-ups. But it looks like Mario is not planning another adventure any time soon. His next appearance will be at the 'Game of the Year' awards at the end of the year, when Super Mario will collect with his trademark non-chalance.

Happy birthday,Mario! and thanks for the number finger-breaking, yet fun hours in front of our TV sets.

3 Must Try Apps For All Platforms [Apps]

2010-09-30T22:31:00.003+05:30

1.Evernote (Productivity App)

Create notes, click photos, record voice memos,clip web notes...put it all together. Evernote is an app that promises to get your digital life organised in a jiffy. You can download it on your PC and use a web browser plug-in to create web notes. There is a data limit - 40MB a month on the free version Want it? Visit: www.evernote.com
Available Platforms: iPhone, Android,Palm Pre and Windows Mobile.

2.Layar (Augmented Reality App)

Everyone is talking about it. You can find out just what the heck Augmented Reality is with this free app. Layar takes your mobile to the cool zone. Not just any cool,we are talking "Minority Report" cool here. Convert your mobile phone into a mmoving visual encyclopedia. Curious? Visit www.layar.com
Available Platforms: Android and iPhone 3GS

3.Google Goggles

Point your mobile phone camera, click at a well-known landmark or the cover of a book, and allow Google to fill in the details about the image. Google Goggles is a cool free app that is a must experiment for all Android users. What's more it can even scan visiting cards for data and add it to your contacts. How cool is that?