Your Daily IT News |
- Facebook’s New Video Calling Feature A Target For Scammers?
- LinkedIn Joins The Social Media Elite With 33.9 Million Uniques
- Google +1 Overtakes Twitter Tweet Button In Social Sharing Integration
- Facebook Changes The Way It Handles App User Feedback
- California District Court Denies Apple Request of Injunction Against Amazon
- Google+ Spams Users, Runs out of Disk Space
- Rumor: Apple to Launch iPod Touch with 3G in September
- Breaking News – Leaked Video of Casey Anthony Confessing to Lawyer! Facebook Scam
- Update Google Plus through SMS
- Speeding Up Things with Time-lapse Photography
| Facebook’s New Video Calling Feature A Target For Scammers? Posted: 10 Jul 2011 05:25 PM PDT Facebook should have slapped a big fat Beta sticker onto their "super awesome" video calling feature because scammers are already cracking it open. And it's been less than a week!
Of course, Facebook will probably clean things up before I finish writing this article, but even so, it highlights the problem that Facebook has with policing it's network. Most applications can be placed on Facebook after just a simple phone verification, leaving the door wide open for scammers to dive in, make a quick buck at our expense and disappear. These little bugs (unforeseen or otherwise) are the sort of things Facebook can ill-afford as it tries to out pace Google. The newly introduced video call feature has already come under fire for only allowing one-and-one video calling, something Google hangouts trumps with stunning ease. Facebook's strategy seems to be based on the addition of layer upon layer of new features, and this isn't a bad thing. But Facebook must remember that the more they add, the more the site will look like the MySpace of old. Big on clutter, and light on user friendliness. Video chat will probably improve on Facebook as time wears on, let's just hopes it improves faster than Google adds users to Google+. Tried Facebook video chat yet? Watch the video below to see how it works.
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| LinkedIn Joins The Social Media Elite With 33.9 Million Uniques Posted: 10 Jul 2011 05:25 PM PDT There's a race to reach the top of the social media mountain and with every passing day, the race positions shift. Reports are that professional social media website Linkedin has just surpassed MySpace to become the second largest social networking website by traffic in the US. This past June, Linkedin clocked in at a whopping 33.9 million unique visitors, compared to the 33.5 million unique received by MySpace. That is good news for Linkedin but more bad news for MySpace who has seen a steady drop in it's numbers. What's surprising is that LinkedIn's surge in popularity is directly tied to it's recent IPO, while MySpace can't seem to get enough traffic to save its life. One would have thought that with big-shot names like Timberlake taking a stake in the beleaguered social network, user-confidence would return, but alas. It is starting to look like no matter what, MySpace will inevitably go the way of the Dodo bird. Micro-blogging giant isn't far behind in numbers either, posting a record 30.6 million unique in June. And if the trends hold sway, these numbers will be even higher as the year wears on. It's probably too soon to get overly excited, but it seems another tech bubble is forming. One only hopes that the undercurrent of confidence doesn't get outdone by the harsher socio-economic realities outside of social networking. It's not easy to predict who'll be on top at the end of the year, but the race for the top is shaping up rather nicely. Watch the video below to more analysis of LinkedIn's growth.
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| Google +1 Overtakes Twitter Tweet Button In Social Sharing Integration Posted: 10 Jul 2011 05:25 PM PDT Google's foray into the social media game is yet to reach maturity, but already the tech giant is knocking down opponents and breaking records. One of the key ways that social media players are able to grow is through third party vehicles—specifically independent website owners. The ubiquitous Facebook "like button", Twitter's "tweet me" and now Google's "+1" button are just one of the key things that help grow a social media presence online.
It's important to note though that despite this surge in integration, the Facebook like button still leads the pack, with over 10% saturation on the top 10,000 websites. It's not clear right now where the Google +1 button will end up in terms of numbers, but the growth in its use could be an indication of what website owners feel they can get out of it. A link shared on Twitter doesn't have the pulling power it once had—bots have put paid to that. A link shared on Facebook (and now Google+) will send real visitors back to your site. And this I suppose is the reason Twitter will be left behind. Watch the video below to learn more about Google's +1 button.
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| Facebook Changes The Way It Handles App User Feedback Posted: 10 Jul 2011 05:25 PM PDT There are many people who have built a business around designing apps for Facebook. While most of these apps are good, some will be considered as overly "spammy" by Facebook's users. The social networking giant has also taken its user's feedback into account when determining which apps stay and which ones go. The problem that many app developers have faced is that they had no way of knowing how their apps ranked in terms of users marking a certain message as spam. A recent update has sought to remedy this problem.
Facebook is also changing the way they block unwanted apps and messages. They are now implementing what they call "Granular Enforcement" which means that apps will be blocked based on the method that the app receives the most negative feedback from. For instance, if an app is receiving an excessive amount of negative feedback from chat messages then that aspect of its communication will be shut down while the overall app is still intact. In addition to this granular enforcement, Facebook will put an app into a "Disabled Mode", if need be, but will keep the app accessible to the developer so that changes can be made. These additions should make it easier for developers to better target users and avoid an unexpected ban from Facebook |
| California District Court Denies Apple Request of Injunction Against Amazon Posted: 10 Jul 2011 05:25 PM PDT A judge from the California district court denied Apple's request of an injunction against Amazon over the use of the term app store. This is a big blow to Apple's crusade to own the rights to the app store term. According to the judge, Apple was unable to show that its app store term is famous enough to be seen as noticeable. The court said that when people hear Apple, they think about its electronic devices, such as iPhone, iPad and iPod. People don't associate the term app store to the company. Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton said that Apple spent a lot of money and effort to promote its app store but there is evidence that the term is used by other companies as well to describe a place to get apps for mobile devices. Aside from Apple and Amazon, there are other companies that use the term. Microsoft said that the term app store is too generic and can't be applied to just Apple's online store. Apple maintained that the app store term defines its company and if others use the term, it would dilute its brand. The judge said that Apple has failed to establish it owns the term. |
| Google+ Spams Users, Runs out of Disk Space Posted: 10 Jul 2011 05:24 PM PDT In a quick succession, several Google+ users were bombarded with multiple email notifications spamming their inbox due to a coding error after which the service that kept track of Google+ notification system ran out of disk space. Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice-President of Social for Google, apologized on his Google+ account to those Google+ users who were affected because of the glitch.
Google+ is currently under field test and such bugs and errors are expected to follow. Google+ has currently closed down it's sign up process and invite feature. There are over millions of users already on Google+, revealed Eric Schmidt on Thursday. When Google+ was announced, the invite process was open for quite a few time until it was closed due to insane demand of "invites". Google then re-opened the social network to public for a shot period of time (Just for couple of hours). Sophos reported that high profiles sufferers like Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC's News's Technology Correspondent, was bombarded with emails. Jones tweeted "Getting zillions of Google+ emails, including duplicates which is apparently a bug. Already dubious about its usefulness…" However, the glitch did not cause much inconvenience to users as Gmail's threaded view feature got all emails under a single thread. But for those who used third-party email clients definitely faced a lot of problems with multiple barrage of notifications. Google states that the Google+ team is working hard to fix/kill bugs and ensure that its infrastructure is fast and reliable when it is publicly open. There have been spammy Google Plus invitations that are spreading viral all over the Internet. There are people who are selling Google+ invites which are fake. Please be aware that Google+ is free and there is no need to buy invites. Please be patient until Google+ is opened to public again. By the way, we have been using Google+ for over weeks and you might want to read through our series of articles which will be helpful to you when it comes to using and understanding Google+. |
| Rumor: Apple to Launch iPod Touch with 3G in September Posted: 10 Jul 2011 05:24 PM PDT
According to their sources, Apple's new iPod Touch 3G will launch in September, and it will work just like the iPhone. You can buy a 3G data plan from your ISP and insert the SIM card into the iPod Touch. It will, obviously, not support voice calling, since then it would be exactly the same as the iPhone. While the source of the rumor isn't very credible, I wouldn't be very surprised if this did turn out to be true. Like the iPad, the iPod Touch could also have a 3G version. It's only the logical next step for Apple, but what I'm worried about is, how it might affect iPhone sales. Since the iPod Touch is substantially cheaper than the iPhone, launching a 3G version of the iPod Touch might actually cannibalize Apple's iPhone sales. Using apps like Skype for VOIP calls and iMessage for text messaging, it could very well function just like an iPhone. One thing's for sure, the carriers will definitely be happy with the increased data usage, though they might lose some voice revenue. If Apple does launch an iPod Touch with 3G, it could also double up as an inexpensive version of the iPhone, sans the voice calling. It might be just what Apple needs to capture more market share and fight off competitors like Android and Windows Phone 7. |
| Breaking News – Leaked Video of Casey Anthony Confessing to Lawyer! Facebook Scam Posted: 10 Jul 2011 05:24 PM PDT
Since the case received national media attention in the US with media calling it "the biggest rating draw in recent memory", scammers on Facebook have taken full advantage of it by publishing a scam post on Facebook about Casey Anthony confessions and a link to download the video chat app. If you come across these two scam messages, please ignore them or remove/delete them from your Facebook wall. The scam message titled – "BREAKING NEWS – Leaked Video of Casey Anthony CONFESSING to Lawyer!" with a link and a description – "Click To See (watch) – She can't be retried, double jeopordy.. OJ all over again!" is one among the fast-spreading scams on Facebook where the scammer promises to show the leaked video of Casey Anthony confessing to her lawyer. If you happen to click on the link, you will be redirected to the infamous age verification page with the "Jaa" button. Though it is mentioned that you need to click "Jaa" twice to confirm your age, there is no such button anywhere on the page. However, clicking the "Play Video" button will click-jack and like-jack your Facebook account which will post and "like" the message automatically on your Facebook wall. The Finnish translation on "Jaa" is to "Share". That is exactly what the scam message does when you click on the "Play Video" button. This clearly indicates that the scammer's intention is to share the message with your friends and not to "verify your age". After the message is updated on your wall, you will be redirected to a fake YouTube page asking you to complete a set of surveys after which you will be shown the video. Please be careful that there is no video shown even after completing the survey. Scammers trick users to complete surveys in order to earn money/commission. Sometimes, scam message may ask you to click on a link to download a video. Trying to download the video or any other files may lead to malware attack that could grant access to all your credentials like credit card details and email id to the scammer. There is no such video of Casey Anthony confessing to her lawyer that exists. It is recommend that you report the message as spam and remove/delete it from you Facebook wall. You can also report this to Facebook Security. We have complied a list of Most Actively Spreading Scams on Facebook that you might want to have a look at. In addition to that, don't forget to check out our article about Avoiding Facebook Likejacking and Clickjacking scams. |
| Update Google Plus through SMS Posted: 10 Jul 2011 05:24 PM PDT
If you are one of those folks who are already hooked, and you are from India, then there is some good news for you. Now you can update your Google Plus status, on the go, via SMS. All you need to do is send an SMS to 9222222222 with your message text. You can even specify post visibility while updating via SMS. Here are the modifiers you can use:
If you don't specify anything, your post will be shared with everyone in your circles. It's slightly odd that this feature is currently available only in India. Normally, the focus during early field testing is strictly on US residents. However, Indians might also represent the ideal demographic for this feature. India is a country where mobile phone penetration is very high, but smartphone penetration is low. Additionally,SMS is dirt cheap. The Indian masses will almost certainly appreciate this feature. But, the question is, how many of the masses are using Google Plus? In these early days, it's mainly tech and social media enthusiasts who are dominating the social graph.
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| Speeding Up Things with Time-lapse Photography Posted: 10 Jul 2011 05:24 PM PDT
Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique that has been used since 1890s and was mainly used by film makers to speed up time. It is considered to be the opposite of High Speed Photography. Time-lapse photography is shooting a sequence of photos of the same subject with certain time interval between each shot. The interval may vary from less than a second to an hour or even more than a day. These pictures are then clubbed together into one video that plays back in a shorter amount of time. In other words, time-lapse photography is “the art of compressing a long period of time into a shorter one during playback”. For example, the technique can be implemented to shoot/record the blooming of a flower with a time interval of one day and can be continued for over a period of ten days. Once you have all the images in order, they are then wrapped into a video that lasts for just few minutes. When the video is played at normal speed, time appears to be moving fast and thus lapsing. Here’s a selection of best examples of Time Lapse Photography coupled with sensational music which you will watch them over and over again. #10 Growing a PlantThis was shot using Pentax K110D and Harbortronics DigiSnap 2100 set to take a frame each 29 minutes and 45 seconds. The time lapse period lasted for 10 days. Two 90 watt compact floresecent lights where used for both the camera shooting light and the grow lights and were on 24 hours. #09 Stuttgart, GermanyTime-Lapse Photography of the German city – Stuttgart, showing 20 Locations in less than 10 minutes. #08 DandelionTime lapse of Dandelion flower to seed head. The Dandelion clock filmed continuously over a period of one month. Intervals between 5-45 minutes. #07 Get Up and Go (Tokyo, Japan)Speeding up time in the city of Tokyo by Stefan Werc #06 The Longest WayChristoph Rehage spent one year on foot – 4646km walking across China from November 9th 2007 – November 13th 2008. Unlimited beard & hair growth! #05 The Milky Way#04 Speeding Up Life#03 Shape of Things to ComeA brilliant and fascinating time lapse video capturing the movement of the skies, the stars and everything else – done by 599 Productions. #02 Madrid, SpainIf you are planning to visit the fabulous city of Spain – Madrid, then be sure to watch this spectacular and gorgeous video by Senses. #01 Time is of the Essence by André ChocronThis is one of my favorite and it is one of the best time-lapse photography I have ever come across. André Chocron has just inspired me with this piece of art. Hats off to him. Watch the entire video and I bet you’ll be blown away!
After watching the above time-lapse photography, I’m quite fascinated to give it a try by myself. If I’m successful in it, I’ll post the video here with a complete step-by-step guide. I hope you have enjoyed the collection. You may also like to read an article on Understanding Long Exposure Photography and the Technique Involved and a step-by-step tutorial on Writing Your Name Using Long Exposure Photography. Share: Comment on This Post | Tweet This | Share on Facebook | Save to Delicious | Stumble This | Digg This | Reddit This
Speeding Up Things with Time-lapse Photography originally appeared on Techie Buzz written by Joel Fernandes on Sunday 10th July 2011 02:00:15 PM under Photography Tips. Please read the Terms of Use for fair usage guidance.
       This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
According to Sophos' Naked Security blog, scammers are now using an application that masks itself as "Video Chat". The application, which is actually called "Video Call" forces a user to grant permissions, shortly after which, the scammers are able to post directly to the user's wall and that of their friends. Nothing terribly dangerous, but sufficient to annoy anyone who gets conned into granting these scammers the permission to spam them with impunity.
Absolutely everything is measured online these days and so it comes as no surprise that Google's +1 button has overtaken Twitter's tweet button on most major websites. According to enterprise SEO platform provider, BrightEdge, the Google +1 button has a 33% jump in integration on the 10,000 most popular websites on the web.
Facebook admits that their spam bots have, at times, been a bit over zealous when it comes to canceling and banning apps that users have marked as spam. This used to mean that a developer's program could be discontinued without warning. The problem was that many app developers had no idea that users were marking their products as spam and therefore had no power to change their tactics. Facebook has recently added a "News Feed" tab to their Insights which will track the number of times a user hides or marks an app as spam. This will allow developers to take into account the overall reception that their apps receive and can reengineer their promotional tactics accordingly.
In the most recent case of Casey Anthony who was accused of killing her 2-year old daughter Caylee Anthony and dumping the child's body in a wooded area near her house, has been sentenced to one year in jail and $1,000 in fine on July 7, 2011. Although Casey Anthony was not guilty of the murder, she was charged for four misdemeanor counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer.
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