Daily Bits

Internet

Twitter Rolls Out New Design

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Have you checked what’s trending on Twitter today?  If so, you couldn’t have possible missed one of the trending topics: #newtwitter.

What’s this #newtwitter buzz all about?  Basically, Twitter is rolling out a new design that will make things easier and more fun for those of us who communicate in 140 words or less on a regular basis.  If you visit the page dedicated to the new Twitter design, I promise you won’t be able to help it – you’ll get excited.  Take a look at the video teaser below.

So the new Twitter is going to have a viewing pane, which will allow users to see videos and photos shared in tweets without having to leave the home page.  That’s obviously handy – who likes leaving a page to see media anyway?  Another development is that users will now have links to @mentions, retweets, searches, and lists just above the timelines, providing easier access as well.

If you think about it, most of these features can be found in other applications that have access to Twitter.  That is precisely the reason why so many Twitter users, including yours truly, use these applications instead of logging in directly to the Twitter web site.  Think TweetDeck.  With the changes, people might just go back to logging in to the Twitter web site.  After watching that video, I think I shall be waiting for my account to reflect the new Twitter look. (Yup, it’s being rolled out gradually, so hold your horses if you’re not seeing any changes yet.)

Well, it IS about time that Twitter did something like this, don’t you think?

Priority Inbox Tips Straight from Google

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Have you used your Priority Inbox yet?  I shall write this post under the assumption that you activated the new Gmail feature the moment you saw that red notification in the upper right corner of your browser.  (I know I did!)

A little over a week since the Priority Inbox was launched, it seems to me that it is not generating a lot of excitement.  I jumped right into the water by activating the feature, and I am still using it.  Yeah, I guess my Inbox does look more manageable now, but somehow, I feel as if I were missing something.  Maybe I am. Maybe you are, too.

Well, the Google team shared five tips to make the most of the Priority Inbox in the Gmail Blog yesterday.  Let’s take a quick look – maybe these tips will fan the flames of enthusiasm again.

  1. Customize your sections. Did you know that you can further tweak the sections so that you will see exactly what you want to see in your Inbox?  You can add sections, indicate labels that you want to be shown, and even control the number of messages to be shown for each section.
  2. Train the system. Truth be told, I have been spending too much time on doing this.  I know I can train the system as I go along, but it’s just a lot of fun going through months’ worth of e-mails and labeling each as important or not.
  3. See the best of your filtered messages.  Okay, this one totally escaped me the first time.  Anyhow, you can override filters so that messages deemed important (but with filters) will still be shown in your Priority Inbox.
  4. Use filters to guarantee certain messages get marked important (or not). More on filters? If ALL the e-mails your boss sends you are important, then simply create a filter that will cause all e-mails from your boss’s address to be marked as important.
  5. Archive unimportant messages quickly.  Too many e-mails in the “Everything Else” section? Just click on the drop down menu and archive shown messages in one fell swoop.

So tell me, do you find any of these tips helpful?

Google Instant for Lazy Information Seekers

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If you’re anything like me, you use Google to search for practically everything.  More so, you probably conduct searches hundreds of times within the day (and that may not be an exaggeration either).  How often have you hit enter/return before you’ve actually completed your search query?  Embarrassingly, that happens quite a lot to me. The good news is that it seems I am not alone in this.

It seems that quite a lot of people encounter the same issue – otherwise, the guys at Google wouldn’t have bothered to come up with Google Instant.  No, it is not coffee.  It’s not even noodles that come in cups.  What Google Instant is: search on the fly.

Imagine typing out your search query, and as you type, Google predicts what you are looking for. The search results will actually come out as you key in your search terms. It’s pretty much like the predictive text input on mobile phones, but I suppose much better. Here’s visual sampling of what Google Instant can do for you.

Pretty neat, huh? Based on the post in the Official Google Blog, the guys had to make use of new technologies in order to make Google Instant work. Some of the highlights:

  1. new caching systems
  2. ability to adaptively control the rate at which results are displayed
  3. optimization of page-rendering JavaScript (this is so that various web browsers can deal with the system)

As with many other new features/products of Google, not everyone has access to Google Instant yet. The same blog post says that it will be available on Chrome, Firefox, Safari and IE 8. Also, users in countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and the U.K. will get to experience Instant first. Other countries will have access in the following months.

New Google UK Doodle – What’s Up?

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Have you paid Google UK a visit today?  I suppose that if you’re not from that part of the world, there is no real reason for you to visit Google UK.  Indeed, if it weren’t for a “tip” from a friend, I wouldn’t have given Google UK a look today.

Anyhow, the Google Doodle, as you can see, is made of lots of little balls, which scatter all over the place when you hover your mouse over it.

That’s me trying to capture the dispersed balls before they go back to forming the word “Google” again.  Unfortunately, the balls keep beating me over and over again. So what is the reason behind this Doodle?

We know how Google periodically applies changes to the homepage logo to celebrate special events.  During the Olympics, the logo changed to reflect the various sports.  Occasionally, the Doodle is interactive – just like the Pac-Man Doodle released in May, which I think was the first interactive Google Doodle.  The rationale behind that Doodle was easily understood – Pac-Man’s 30th birthday.  The balls on Google UK today, though, no one seems to know what inspired them.

I am sure that we will hear something from Google pretty soon.  For now, we have to settle for conjectures and guesses that are floating around online.  If you’re interested, you can also watch the video below for more of the “balls show.”  I suggest just go to the Google UK web site and play with the balls yourself.  It gets old after a while. :-s

Playboy Apple iPad App Doesn’t Cut It

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The Apple iPad is perhaps the coolest e-book reader-other-gadgets combined you can ever have. It is not a surprise that many vendors and publishers are jumping into the iPad app bandwagon – they can reach so many more people by doing so. And, even the most conservative sectors cannot deny or stop the fact that providers of adult content are going to be part of this boom.

When it comes to adult content, perhaps there is no other better known brand than Playboy. If you didn’t know already, though, the brand has been encountering problems due to its being outmaneuvered by competitors. Struggling it may be, it is not giving up.

It recently launched an app for the iPad, but to the disappointment of users, it didn’t deliver. It may not be all Playboy’s fault – Apple has a strict policy when it comes to content for its apps. Indeed, content which Apple considers “obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory” is banned from the App Store. By definition, Playboy already gets x marks.

The result is predictable: users are frustrated about the whole set up. They have to pay $4.99 for the iPad app, and they want more than “articles.” (Yeah, for those countless individuals who have repeatedly said that they buy Playboy for the articles, where are you now?) I suppose that if the app were free, or at least priced more reasonably, the complaints would not be as bad.

Bottom line: it does not look like Apple will change its policy anytime soon. Maybe Playboy ought to take a look at its strategy – that is, if it wants to stay afloat.

Guys: would you pay $5 for this app?

Worried About Online Security? Go Online in Sierra Leone.

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How worried are you about your security when you go online?  AVG, one of the most recognized names in anti-virus protection and Internet security in general, recently conducted a study on the state of online security in various countries.  Involved in the study were 144 countries and 127 million systems.  AVG collected data relating to virus and malware attacks on these computers and collated their findings.

The results?

African countries did very well in the survey – seven of the 10 safest countries hail from the continent. Sierra Leone tops this list with an average of one attack per 692 users who surf the Web.  Next in line is Niger, with one attack per 442 users who surf the Web.  Other countries in the top 10 are Togo and Japan.  Here are the details for each continent (attack per number of users)

  • North America: 1  in 51
  • Europe: 1 in 72
  • Asia: 1 in 102
  • Africa: 1 in 108
  • South America: 1 in 164.

Basically, South America is the safest while North America is the most dangerous.

However, if the stats are broken down per country, the most dangerous countries are (first one being the most dangerous):

  1. Turkey (1 in 10)
  2. Russia (1 in 15)
  3. Armenia (1 in 24)
  4. Azerbaijan (1 in 39)
  5. Bangaladesh ( 1 in 41)

Roger Thompson from AVG is quick to point out, however, that this data does not exactly pinpoint which regions are completely safe from virus and malware attacks due to their nature – they are not really hindered by geographic boundaries.  He also notes that the results of the study may not be applicable in the near future as viruses and attacks do change over time.

One interesting thing that Thompson mentioned is how this data can be of use to travelers:

However, our research should also serve as a warning to all travelling abroad and using the internet. If you are travelling without your computer and use a public machine or borrow a friend or colleagues, ensure that when accessing web -based services like email, that you log out and close the browser when you have finished your session and that you don’t agree to store any passwords or log-in information on that machine.

If you are taking your laptop with you ensure you have backed up your data and removed any sensitive information from your machine.

If you don’t want the hassle of worrying about security, just take a vacation in Sierra Leone. 😉

Photo credit: highwaycharlie