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5 Things I Can Teach You About Twitter
A lot of people take the wrong approach to Twitter, using it for a constant stream of spam links and self-promotion but if you intend to use Twitter for communications, networking and marketing this is not very effective.
Teens are really social and as Twitter is an extremely sociable platform, it only makes sense that I as a teen can teach you a few things about the micro-blogging service.
1. Be Social
School is miserable. Lessons, tests and detentions from teachers who you don’t like and who don’t like you. Majority of teens who you speak to will agree that school is a bore. The one way to get through it is to have some friends to help you to pass the time. But how do you make friends? It’s by talking and being social of course. Twitter is the same, if you’re using it for communication, make sure that you reply to every DM, @reply and though provoking tweet that you get in your timeline. It’s the only way that you can make friends and gain follows as well as influence on the site. Not only this, but being social can result in great opportunities because of your network and creating this loyal group of followers will increase the likelihood of people ReTweeeting our links, making more people aware of you through their marketing.
2. Play Nice
Think about your school days. Remember that there was that bully in the playground who was mean to everyone? When it comes to Twitter, don’t be that guy. As if us teens didn’t dislike school enough without the addition of overbearing thugs annoying us in corridors! Here’s a life lesson: once you’re the bad-guy, you’re always the bad-guy and if you consistently insult people via Twitter, you’ll quickly gain a reputation as a loud mouth bully. If you have something to say, remember the 2 C’s – Creative Criticism. If you’ve got a problem with someone or something, be polite and say it gently. At least that way you get to voice your opinion and help someone out too!
3. Get that Extra-Credit
Take it from me, your lessons are a whole lot easier when your teachers like you. For any teenager in any class there’s a meanie who is rude to the teacher and has no manners. That kid practically lives in detention! There’s always a teacher’s pet too, who showers the teacher in compliments. That kid is a genius. With Twitter, compliments get you everywhere. @reply lovely messages (only if you mean them!) and watch as your followers attempt to create relationships with you, who is obviously a nice, kind-hearted person. You’ll also increase your chance of being followed as more people will tell their followers to follow you!
4. Pay Attention
Recently, I got the chance to make a screencast/video tutorial to my peers as part of an assessment. The lesson plan was the easy part but what I found difficult about it was that they wouldn’t pay attention for very long. It’s obvious that you learn more when you give something your entire focus, not getting distracted at all, especially in school but this same technique can definitely be applied to Twitter.
If you pay attention to Twitter, you’ll notice when people are talking about certain trends which means that they’ll be using search engines to search for them too. You’ll be able to harness that extra traffic potential by writing great posts about the latest ‘in-thing’ that the Internet is into.
5. Be Prepared
The worst thing in high school is to show up to a lesson unprepared. Everyone’s experienced that moment when the fear hits, and the sheer look of horror slowly creeps upon your face as you realize that the homework that you spent an entire weekend on, lays on a work-table, at home, miles out of reach because you simply forgot to prepare the night before and put it in your bag, ready to take to school. Knowing what you’re using Twitter for can really help. Using it for marketing? Know and prepare what links you’ll be sharing when you get a flood of new followers. What about communication? Be ready to jump in and get involved with the ‘happening’ discussions, this will also help to make you look like an expert in your field too. If you’re a Twitter networker, preparing to reply to your followers can let them know that you appreciate them!
Social media is new and exciting, but it comes down to interacting with others in a respectful, supportive manner. Remember, it’s a “community.”
10 Biggest Technology 'Fails' of 2010
CNN has listed out their “The 10 biggest tech fails of 2010” in which they have picked Apple’s iPhone 4 “antennagate” as tech’s biggest fail of the year 2010.
1. iPhone 4 'Antennagate'
This is what CNN had to say about the now infamous “antennagate” scandal from the much hyped Apple iPhone 4
Apple drama — nothing brings out the diehard fans and Apple haters quite like this one.
The newest iteration of the wildly popular smartphone was released in June.
By all standards, it’s been a huge success. All standards except one.
Some people couldn’t actually use it for phone calls.
OK, maybe that’s an overstatement. But the Grip of Death (caused when users covered part of the antenna in a band around the phone’s edge) was real — and a big glitch in the device’s rollout.
First Apple said the problem didn’t exist. Then they said it was a software issue. Then they kind-of admitted it existed and gave away free cases to help. Then, they said it doesn’t really exist anymore and stopped giving away the bumpers.
Months later, the problem is all but forgotten and the phones show no sign of dipping in popularity. So "fail," in this case, is a pretty relative term.
Other notable mentions in that list were: 3D TVs (at #2), Microsoft KIN (at #3), Google Nexus One (at #4), and iTunes Ping (at #10).
CNN’s 10 Biggest Tech Fails of 2010:
1. iPhone 4 ‘Antennagate’
2. 3D TV
3. Microsoft KIN
4. Google Nexus One
5. Facebook privacy
6. Google Buzz
7. Gawker media sites hacked
8. Content farms
9. Digg relaunch
10. iTunes Ping
[Src CNN Tech ]
2010 : Top 10 Phones Of The Year
The year 2010 was all about phones.Every known hardware manufacturer released a new handset after every 3-4 months with 1GHz processor, huge screens, AMOLED displays and loads of internal storage and RAM.
However, only a few of them were good enough to stand out from the crowd.
There were some Android phones which gave Apple’s iOS based iPhone a run for it’s money. Microsoft also entered the race in late 2010 with their Windows Phone 7 platform which introduced some new phones. Even Nokia came up with a good phone using the Symbian platform. So which are the top 10 phones than made a mark in 2010? Here is a list of them in my opinion.
1 – iPhone 4
The iPhone 4 is our number 1 handset of the year 2010 because of its killer looks, screen, hardware and OS (Did I forget to add any other aspect left in a phone?). The iPhone 4 sports a stunning 3.5-inch Retina display with a mind boggling 960×640 resolution. The handset is also the slimmest phone in the market right now and is made up entirely out of glass.
2 – Samsung Galaxy S/Nexus S
Google announced the Nexus S in the first week of December. The Nexus S is basically a Galaxy S with some minor differences including Android 2.3 and NFC support. The Galaxy S has been one of the most popular Android handset this year, selling nearly 10 million units. The Galaxy S/Nexus S features a brilliant 4-inch Super-AMOLED screen with WVGA (800*400) resolution. The Galaxy S launched with Android 2.1 on board, but Samsung has already started rolling out the Android 2.2 update for the handset in some regions.
The reasons why the Galaxy S/Nexus S came second to the iPhone 4 in our top 10 phones of 2010 is due to its cheap build quality, lack of Flash in some Galaxy S models along with GPS woes and poor Samsung software support.
3 – HTC EVO 4G
However, one of the biggest disadvantage of the EVO 4G is its poor battery life. Also, in this age of Super-AMOLED/AMOLED and Retina Display, a LCD just does not cut it.
4 – T-Mobile G2/ HTC Desire Z
HTC is popular for its slide-out QWERTY keyboard form-factor based Windows Mobile running handsets. Many HTC loyalists and Android lovers were patiently waiting for HTC to come up with a decent slide-out QWERTY keyboard based Android handset. HTC answered the request and pleads of their loyalists with the T-Mobile G2/Desire Z. The handset sports a pop-out QWERTY based keyboard which offers great feedback and tactility.
5 – Motorola Droid X
Motorola and Verizon announced the Droid X with a lot of fanfare. The Droid X sports a 1GHz OMAP 3630 processor and 512MB of RAM. The phone also sports a huge 4.3-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 854×480. Other important specifications of the phone include Wi-Fi b/g, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS and an 8MP snapper with an LED flash.
However, what led this phone down was that it was launched with Android 2.1 on board. A few months later when Motorola updated the Droid X to Android 2.2, the update turned out to be a total disaster. The highly criticized MotoBLUR UI and the locked down boot loader did not help things either.
6 – Google Nexus One
At the end of the year, the Nexus One might look like an ‘old’ handset to many readers but it set the trend for other high-end Android handsets to follow
7 – Nokia N8
The Nokia N8 makes it to this list only because of its exceptional camera quality. The 12MP camera on the device is assisted by a Xenon flash and is truly a digital camera replacement. The quality of the pictures taken by the phone are simply outstanding and unrivaled by any other camera phone in the market right now. The N8 is also capable of recording videos in 720p HD format.
Other key specifications of the phone include a 3.5-inch AMOLED screen, a mini-HDMI port with Dolby digital surround sound and USB OTG (On-The-Go). The N8 is also the first phone from the Finnish giant to run on the latest version of Symbian – Symbian^3. However, other features of the N8 are simply disastrous at best, including the input system and the web browser.
More Comming Soon ... [This Post Will Be Updated Soon]
Src [GsmArena,FoneArena]
iPhone 4 Unlock on iOS 4.2.1, Baseband 2.10.04 and 3.10.01 Isn’t Too Far Off From Release
Good news for iPhone 4 users who are waiting for the unlock on iOS 4.2.1, baseband 3.10.01 and 2.10.04. The Egyptian iPhone Baseband hacker Sherif Hashim replied to a user on Twitter, confirming that the unlock for iPhone 4 on the latest firmware and baseband isn’t too far off from release.
(In Arabic) Gerges2001: @sherif_hashim mn el a5r keda ,, el gish bta3y ibd2 ioom 16-1 ,, hal72 el unlock lel iphone4 wala eih el kallam ???
(English Translation) Gerges2001: @sherif_hashim I’m going to perform military service by January 16, will I get the unlock before this date?
Sherif_Hashim: @Gerges2001 sure
Last month, The iPhone Dev-Team released an Ultrasn0w update which enabled iPhone 3G
and 3GS users to unlock their devices on iOS 4.2.1 by permanently (for now) upgrading it to iPad’s baseband 06.15.00. Rumor has it that there is soon going to be a way for iPhone 3G and 3GS users to downgrade the baseband back to the original 05.15.04 which ships with iOS 4.2.1 for these older devices.
[Src ModMyi]
Top Delicious Alternatives To Save Your Bookmarks
Yahoo! is shutting down Delicious and you want to export your bookmarks so that you have a backup copy. You can also import your delicious bookmarks into Diigo, Xmarks, Chrome, Opera, Firefox and Internet Explorer, however, what now? Which bookmark service can you use to store your bookmarks in the cloud?
Thanks to the internet you will at-least find a few options for something you want to do, some of them are free, some not. Here is a list of alternatives you could use for bookmarking in the cloud.
Google Chrome Sync – If you use Google Chrome, it has a handy feature which allows you to sync your bookmarks in the cloud. You could make use of it and have your bookmarks available on any PC running Google Chrome. If you don’t have Google Chrome handy, you will find all those bookmarks in Google Docs. Alternatively you could also use Google Bookmarks.
Firefox Sync – Just like Google Chrome, Firefox also has an option to sync your bookmarks to the cloud. Use this service if you are a heavy Firefox users.
Opera Link – Another browser based backup service, but this time for Opera. I guess I wouldn’t even have to tell Opera users about this. Use this service to backup and sync your bookmarks across Opera.
Diigo – Diigo is another good service which provides with an easy way to bookmark web pages on the web. It also has some cool apps which allow you to read those bookmarks on a device like iPhone and read the webpages while you are offline. Diigo also offers a Chrome App called "Read Later Fast" which allows you to store webpages in Google Chrome and read them later.
Xmarks – Many of you might be aware of Xmarks which was recently acquired by LastPass. This service has been very popular and is used by thousands of people. Xmarks also provides users a way to discover new webpages using information stored by other users, something similar to what Delicious provided users with.
I find that these three alternatives should be able to get you over your Delicious hangover, however, if you are looking for more you can always try out one of other options available below.
* Mister Wong
* vi.sualize.us
* Favilous
* Pinboard
Whats your favourite bookmarking service ?
Facebook Brings Face Recognition To Photo Tags
I recall Facebook launching its Face Detection feature last year, using which Facebook detected similar faces in numerous photos of an album and tagged each one of them in one go. Well that’s improving, starting from today!
The social network boosted the usability of its photo product by enabling auto tagging of photos. How exactly? Facebook uses its face recognition feature to detect a person and then utilize your network of friends as reference to place tags on the people visible in the picture. With over a 100 million photos being tagged each day I think the new update would make tagging easier for all those photo lovers.
But, what about privacy? I for one won’t like being tagged without my permission or at least I would like to be notified to grant permission. This is exactly what the Facebook’s VP Product, Chris Cox had to address. Cox mentioned that users do have the choice to opt out of the feature altogether, disabling anyone to auto tag you using this feature. Seconding that he also mentioned that this won’t be used for a network wise face search and would strictly be applicable to the network of friends.
The feature will be rolled out to around 5% of the social network users initially. It’s just the start of it, so don’t be surprised if it tags Jhon as Lynda, vice versa.
Google Chrome Cr-48 Laptop Unboxing and Review
Seems like this was Google's week with a lot of releases from the big G primarily the big one was the release of the Android 2.3 Gingerbread and Google Nexus S, followed by the Chrome OS a few days back. Google also announced Chrome OS netbook for free to selected people in the US and reviews of the device have already started rolling out.
The Google Cr-48 laptop will be running Google’s Chrome OS, featuring a 12.1-inch screen and will be powered by the Intel Atom processor. The in depth review has everything you might want to read about the Chrome Cr-48 laptop but the gist of it is:
The Cr-48 may look like just any other laptop, but we can tell you right off the bat that it feels considerably better than most of those plastic netbooks sitting on store shelves right now. The entire body (that means the lid, edges, and the underside) is made of a soft, rubber-like matte black plastic — in fact, it feels a lot like the back of the Droid, though it feels a bit less rubbery.And Just in case you aren’t interested in going through loads of text, engadget has a video walkthrough of the Google Cr-48 laptop. You can view this video below:
Src [Engadget]
Watch Free Tv On Your Pc With 650+ Channels Online
I was watching Gadget Guru on NDTV 24/7 when suddenly my friend called me up and asked what was i doing.He was pretty surprised to hear not because I was watching the news channel, but since I was watching it online, that too on my browser.
Today i would like to share with you a portal “FreeTubeTV.net” which lists over 650 Free TV channels and more being added regularly under various categories:
# News
# Business
# Educational
# Entertainment
# Religious
# Music
# Sports
# Lifestyle
# Webcams
# Movies
Link: FreeTubeTV
I have watched many channels without much trouble on a 256kbps connection, so I hope this shall work nicely for you all.
Get The New Facebook Profile
Facebook has introduced a new Profile Page. The New Profile Page gives a face lift to your Profile Page. This new profile page now gives more priority to your basic information and profile than wall posts. It gives a new look to the profile page.
Some of the elements have been moved to different positions. I guess they have tracked which elements are interacted most by the user and which are not. Tagged photos have been moved to the top
To Get the New Facebook Profile Page,Follow These Steps :
"Once you enable new Facebook Profile Page, You can’t go back to the old layout."
* Visit http://www.facebook.com/about/profile/
*After logging into the Facebook, You should see a button on the top right corner “Get the New Profile”
*Click on that button to get the new Facebook Profile Page
Google Nexus S Unvieled – Features, Price and Availability
Google has announced the successor of Nexus One! Its so-called Nexus S and its comming to the United States on December 16, and to UK on December 20.
Here are the Features:
Connectivity
* Quad-band GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900
* Tri-band HSPA: 900, 2100, 1700
* HSPA type: HSDPA (7.2Mbps) HSUPA (5.76Mbps)
* Wi-Fi 802.11 n/b/g
* Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
* Near Field Communication (NFC)
* Assisted GPS (A-GPS)
* microUSB 2.0
Display
* 4.0" WVGA (480×800)
* Contour Display with curved glass screen
* Super AMOLED
* 235 ppi
* Capacitive touch sensor
* Anti-fingerprint display coating
Size and weight
* 63mm x 123.9mm x 10.88mm
* 129g
Hardware
* Haptic feedback vibration
* Three-axis gyroscope
* Accelerometer
* Digital compass
* Proximity sensor
* Light sensor
Processor and memory
* 1GHz Cortex A8 (Hummingbird) processor
* 16GB iNAND flash memory
Cameras and multimedia
* Back-facing: 5 megapixels (2560×1920)
* 720 x 480 video resolution
* H.264, H.263 MPEG4 video recording
* Auto focus
* Flash
* Front-facing: VGA (640×480)
* 3.5mm, 4-conductor headset jack
(stereo audio plus microphone)
* Earpiece and microphone
* Software noise-cancellation
Battery
* Talk time up to 6.7 hours on 3G
(14 hours on 2G)
* Standby time up to 17.8 days on 3G
(29.7 days on 2G)
* 1500 mAH Lithum Ion
Software
* Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
* Android Market
* Calendar
* Gmail
* Google Earth
* Google Maps with Navigation
* Google Search
* Google Talk
* Google Voice
* Voice Actions
* YouTube
Check out the trailer:
Pricing:
Customers in US will be able to purchase Nexus S for $529 as an unlocked phone without a contract. Nexus S optimized for T-Mobile’s network is available for $199 with a two-year service agreement and qualifying voice and data plan. In UK, at £35 on contract, and £549 for the unlocked version.
Source: http://www.google.com/nexus/
[Wikileaks] 76 Mirrors Added To Stay Alive On The Web
Wikileaks is threatened not only by DDoS attacks,but also by hosting services such as Amazon and payment gateways like PayPal removing them from their networks.However, the site is up and running on wikileaks.ch which is being constantly moved across the world including a bunker provided to it.
However, to stay and continue serving the Cable Gate documents,Wikileaks is also mirrored at 76 sites, with more being added continuously
To view a list of Wikileaks mirrors for documents Cable Gate visit http://wikileaks.ch/mirrors.html
Pakistanis Hack Indian CBI Govt Website
Barely a week after the Indian Cyber Army hacked 35 Pakistani Government sites, the Pakistani Cyber Army has hit back by hacking the CBI site of Indian Government at http://www.cbi.gov.in/index.php.
The CBI is the Central Bureau of Investigations for India and is one of the biggest crime investigation organization in the country. This hack is definitely a slap in the face for Indians. The Pakistan Cyber Army has left a message saying that this attack was a response to the "Indian Cyber Army". It is a known fact that the Indian and Pakistani governments are at loggerheads, but this is taking the war to digital levels now.
The message left on the CBI site is as follows:
Oooopssss! WTF? CBI? Cyber Crime? Hacked? hahaha funny aint it! :P
This attempt is in response to the pakistani websites hacked by ‘Indian Cyber Army’. We told you before too ..we are sleeping but not dead..remember PCA(pakistan cyber army)!..back off kids or we will smoke your d00rs off like we did before..lets see what you investigating agency so called CBI can do for you or for us! haha…one more attempt from your side..we got your every website lying around here like its our local server! buahahaha..so we would like to say to your 31337 hackers and your 31337 NIC team..go and read some more books ..you guys are seriously bunch of script_kiddies! ..you know nothing rite now..got r00t access to NTC server? wtf..mass defacements..how about something like this..a planned attack! haha..btw we got r00t to your NIC too :P ..your filtering sucks..have fun! and DO NOT DISTURB..we got better things to do.. :D ..stop complaining about pakistani websites security..secure your own ass first..thats what intelligent people do!..lol…tata :D
A message by Pakistan Cyber Army
Pakistan Zindabad!
Activate iPhone 4, 3GS, 3G Officially Without Original SIM with Redsn0w 0.9.6b6 & SAM
iPhone developer and hacker Sam Bingner has released Subscriber Artificial Module (SAM) method which will allow you to officially activate your iPhone 4, 3GS and 3G without hacktivating, or using original SIM card.
“Subscriber Artificial Module (SAM)” tricks your iPhone and iTunes into creating legitimate activation tickets even though you’re unlocked with ultrasn0w. This means you get the full benefit of push applications, and your battery life increases substantially. If you’d like to try it out, check out http://www.bingner.com/SAM.html
The benefit of Subscriber Artificial Module (SAM) as opposed to hacktivation is that it will result in great battery life, fully working push notifications and so on just like how it is on the officially activated iPhones.
Follow the instructions posted below to officially activate your iPhone using this new method.
Step 1: Download the latest Redsn0w 0.9.6b6 for Windows or Mac via the links given at the end of this post.
Step 2: Jailbreak your iPhone using this latest version of Redsn0w 0.9.6b6.
Step 3: Once you have jailbroken your iPhone, start Cydia and add http://repo.bingner.com repository.
Step 4: Now install “SAM” and “SAMPrefs” from the repository.
Step 5: Now start the latest Redsn0w 0.9.6b6 again and select “Deactivate” option as shown in the screenshot below. This will allow your iPhone to revert back to a stock lockdownd in order for SAM to function.
Step 6: Now navigate to Settings > SAM and click "De-Activate iPhone"
Step 7: Start iTunes. Make sure your iPhone is connected. Allow iTunes to activate your iPhone officially.
Note: If iTunes says invalid SIM, you will need to manually select the appropriate carrier under one of the methods besides "Automatic" and click on a SIMID.
Once done, you should see the following message on your iPhone :
Download Links :
Download Redsn0w 0.9.6b6 for Windows
Download Redsn0w 0.9.6b6 for Mac OS X
Apple iPad Comes To India
Apple has quietly started shipping it’s most celebrated tablet device – iPad to India. And if you still thought Apple iPad is yet to be available officially in India, better check again! Many Apple’s franchisees in India have just started selling iPads. However there is a catch to it – you have to buy the iPads in bulk.
The fact that Apple resellers in India are currently selling the iPads to corporate customers and that too in bulk became more concrete when The Economic Times got in touch with another store at Noida’s Sector 18 which initially said that iPads haven’t been launched in India. But when the same store was approached later as a corporate customer the store said they will source the iPads from Hong Kong through an importer.
