All Entries Tagged With: "twitter"

Twitter Accrues Over 145 Million Users, Continues To Grow

Twitter is, without a doubt, a fast-growing service. Scores of users from all across the globe have flocked to the micro-blogging service, posting status updates containing 140 characters or less. In all honesty, I’ve never really caught on with Twitter. Erictric has its own Twitter account, but I don’t personally Tweet.

But despite the fact that I’m just not into the service, that doesn’t mean that other folks aren’t, either. As a matter of fact, it looks like millions of people are simply in love with Twitter.

In a blog post published on Thursday evening, Twitter’s Evan Williams wrote the following:

“We’re making great progress in these areas—we currently have more than 145 million registered users and the performance of our Promoted Products has exceeded our expectations.”

Twitter Launches for iPad

iPad user? Twitter user? Today just may be your day (I know, we say this a lot). Twitter has today released their official application for iPad, and preliminary reviews suggest that it just might be the best application Twitter’s ever fabricated for a mobile device.

Twitter has made good use of the iPad’s 9.7-inch display, as you can tell from the screenshot above (courtesy: Gizmodo). In addition, multi-touch functionality is an integral element to the application — which some suggest actually makes the application fun to use.

Most of you know that I personally don’t Tweet (though you should follow us on Twitter), so I can’t really comment on what I think about the app.

What about you? Any good, you think?

Verizon Wireless Updates R2-D2 Motorola Droid 2 Webpage

Click to Enlarge

At the beginning of this month, Basking Ridge, New Jersey-based Verizon Wireless launched a Special Edition R2-D2 Motorola Droid 2 webpage at www.droiddoes.com/r2d2. However, the page was more of a teaser than anything, as there was not much details or information. Today, the wireless carrier revamped the page to become more interactive, as it’s now part of a new contest.

Contestants must follow the DroidLanding account on Twitter to receive clues to help them crack eight different codes. Every time a new code is cracked, the contestant will unlock one of the new exclusive features or content that comes pre-installed on the Special Edition R2-D2 Motorola Droid 2, which will be made available on September 30.

Thus far, only one clue has been released. DroidLanding sent out a tweet with a URL that redirects to a page with a transmission by R2-D2. Users must copy the URL and use the Tweet Translator on the R2-D2 Motorola Droid 2 webpage to have C-3PO decipher the message.

Twitter OAuthcalypse Takes Place on Tuesday Morning

Repent, everyone. The OAuthcalypse is upon us.

Just kidding. It’s not the end of the world. So you won’t have to worry about your sins. Instead, it just means that Twitter will be moving from the existing basic authentication of its API to a more robust and secure standard called “OAuth.” Originally, the move was supposed to take place on June 30. However, the San Francisco, California-based company delayed it due to the high traffic produced by the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Now, the move, which has been dubbed OAuthcalypse, will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, August 31. According to the official Countdown to OAuth, there are only 15 hours left as of this writing.

Google Updates Real-Time Search with New Features and New Home

Mountain View, California-based Google announced today The Official Google Blog that its Real-Time Search feature, which was introduced back in December of 2009, has been updated with new tools. In addition, Google Real-Time Search has been give a new home of its own. Users can now access Google Real-Time Search at www.google.com/realtime. Do take into account that the new page is rolling out gradually. Therefore, not everyone might see it just yet. Users can also access Real-Time Search from any regular Google Search results page by clicking on “Updates” from the left sidebar.

When it comes to the new features, Google indicates that users can now get Real-Time Search results based on their location. As always, Google Real-Time Search utilizes data from several sources such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Google Buzz, and more. Also, Real-Time Search has been equipped with a new conversation view, which makes it easier and more convenient for users to follow a discussion in real-time.

Web-Based iTunes to Offer Social Features, Not Streaming

Cupertino, California-based Apple is expected to introduce its new web-based iTunes next week on September 1 at its annual Media Event in San Francisco, California. While the service is expected to get a big makeover, users should not expect a streaming feature to become available just yet.

Peter Kafka from AllThingsD reports that music executives indicate that Apple has not even contacted big record labels to obtain the necessary licenses to be able to stream content to customers. However, the new iTunes could potentially be more social.

It could apparently allow users to share their music preferences with the rest of the Internet. Additionally, there’s the possibility that the new service could easily sync with popular social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. In other words, the so-called cloud-based iTunes to be introduced next week could just be a light taste of what’s coming. Just as with any other Apple services, we could definitely expect to get better with time.

Twitter Application For Android Updated To Version 1.0.3

Posted to the Android market without and hint of a changelog, Twitter has posted up version 1.0.3 of Twitter for Android on the Google App Market. Fortunately, the update announcement came in the form of a tweet late Monday night — making note that the update would fix “lots” of bugs in previous versions. In addition, the update would also use OAuth for user logins.

We can’t exactly say the application is a drastic improvement from the previous version, though it probably is safe to say that the update was necessary.

What are your impressions of the updated Twitter application?

Twitter Introduces New Button Bookmarklet

Last week, San Francisco, California-based Twitter introduced its now popular Tweet Button. However, not every single website has adopted the button, which has left some hardcore Twitter users without the ability to tweet content. Not to worry, as Twitter has announced today on the Twitter Blog the introduction of its new Tweet Button Bookmarklet, which allows users to easily share links with their commentary.

To install the new Tweet Button Bookmarklet, all users have to do is visit this page, and drag the “Share on Twitter” button to the bookmark bar on any browser. That’s it. From there on, users can just click on the bookmarklet and share links. The button will automatically shorten any links, and allow users to write any comment they want.

Let us know what you think.

Facebook to Roll Out New “Like” Button

Palo Alto, California-based Facebook has began testing new variation of its very popular “Like” button, which can be found all across the web. Currently, the company has made available the new button to select partners. The new Like button has only been slightly modified to be on par with other buttons such as that of Twitter and Google Buzz, in which the number of clicks is displayed in a separate box to the right. When the button is clicked to Like something, the number will be placed inside the box, as demonstrated in the image above.

A Facebook spokesperson has released the following statement:

“We’ve begun rolling out new variations of the Like button to make it more seamless for people to like content and share it with their friends. We’ll have additional details to share in the coming weeks.”