Unofficial figures suggest Google+ saw a 30-percent jump in members after throwing open its doors to registrations, with indications that the total user-base could amount to 43.4m. According to tracking data by Paul Allen (not the Microsoft co-founder), Google+ growth in the period following broad availability of the social network matched that of the very earliest days of the closed beta.
BMW drivers will soon be able to have their iDrive ICE systems read out messages, social network updates and RSS feeds, using the same voice control system as is expected to feature in the iPhone 5. A new deal with Nuance will see iDrive gain complex text-to-speech functionality in addition to its existing voice-dialing and music search, able to read SMS and emails - among other content - in a choice of 14 different languages.
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Mark Zuckerberg is a clever man. Facebook’s f8 expo was as all-singing – with Spotify – and all-dancing – with Hulu – as we could’ve hoped, but at its core it was All About Me. Timeline may be the natural evolution of each user’s profile page, but it’s also the perfect stage for our self-obsessed times. Don’t just tell people where you are now, but let them scroll back through the years to see how you got there.
Twitter added a new feature today that lets you share photos via text messages or SMS messages. Although there's the official Twitter app and plenty of third-party clients, many folks still prefer sharing tweets by texting. With this new feature, they can now share photos along with their tweets by simply attaching a photo to their text message.
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In a move that can only be described as rather familiar, Facebook has announced (rather silently) that their users will soon be able to update their Twitter feeds directly from within their Facebook profile. Remember when MySpace opened its doors to Facebook? This isn’t exactly like that, but think about it: acknowledging the fact that a vast amount of Facebook users can’t live without their Twitter? That’s a pretty big deal. Now we get to see how long it takes for Google to react.
Facebook made an interesting update today that brings a Twitter-like following feature called “Subscribe.” After the launch of rival social network Google+, Facebook has been aggressively adding new features with this latest addition along with the previous “smart lists” directly challenging the more flexible Google+ Circles relationship system.
If there was ever a question about whether or not Twitter's social networking service has the power to act as a conduit for real-world results, this is it. Just a few days ago, on August 25th to be exact, two individuals in Mexico, a mister Gilberto Martinez Vera and a miss Maria de Jesus Bravo Pagola, Tweeted what turned out to be false information on their Twitter accounts about both shootouts and kidnappings near schools in Veracruz. What resulted was 26 total car accidents, people running through the streets, and emergency numbers "totally collapsed" under traffic in the area from concerned callers.
Illustration by Pascal Doury
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Google+ may soon be getting a new "Suggested User" list feature similar to what's been offered on Twitter. The company's VP of Product, Bradley Horowitz, tweeted a message inviting select individuals to come participate in a pilot for what he calls a "suggested user-like mechanism" on Google+. But the only individuals they're interested in for now are those with over 100k Twitter followers.
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Down here in Texas, we invented the State Fair. That may not technically be true, but everything you know and love to hate about state fairs, we invented. The Corny Dog came from Texas (and yes, you’ve been spelling it wrong all this time). Put a stick in a hotdog, dip it in batter and fry it, and you’re halfway to Dallas. Fried butter? Suck it, Iowa. We’ve had fried butter in Texas for years. And fried beer. And deep fried frito pie, which is fritos topped with chili and cheese, somehow dipped in batter and deep fried into a mound of goodness. Take a whiff. Ahhhh . . . wait, don’t smell the air. We’re at Air Quality Level Orange down here, so maybe you should just look at the pretty pictures.
Twitter as any other tool can be used for good or for things that are not so good. One example of using the Twitter service for something not so good is the Tweet that was posted Friday night on the twitter account of rapper The Game. The tweet from the rappers account went out to 580,000 followers and told them that there was an internship up for grabs and to call a phone number listed in the tweet if they were interested.
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Twitter has begun embedding Amazon and iTunes content links into tweets (for example), in an extension of its existing preview feature. Visible on the Twitter site, the retail links work in a similar fashion to previews of YouTube and certain image sharing services, offering review excepts of Amazon listings (along with a "Learn more or buy" button) and screenshots of iTunes items.
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The lure of Google+ is enough to keep developers from worrying about Android patent issues, according to the latest survey, with the fast-growing social network name-checked along with Apple iCloud as the top driving factors amid mobile growth and adoption. Google+ and iCloud’s engagement and cloud-connectivity are of prime interest to developers, Appcelerator discovered, especially with their potential to squeeze out Facebook as dominant in mobile mindshare, but they spared some time to discuss the limiting factors potentially holding back Android tablet success.
