TWITTER UNVEILS REVAMPED, USER-FRIENDLY WEBSITE

Boston: Micro-blogging site Twitter has unveiled a revamped website that will make it easier for users to check images and videos, besides helping the company to attract more advertisers.

The "re-engineered" Twitter.com, aimed at providing an "easier, faster and richer experience" is expected to roll out around the world in the next few days.

The website is now split into two panes. One is devoted to messages or "tweets" posted on Twitter each day, and the other will feature photos, videos, replies and other information related to a Tweet's author or subject.

"This is really a complete revamp...It is going to increase the value that people are getting out of Twitter, so in less time you can get more information and value," Twitter's co-founder and chief executive Evan Williams said.

Users will now be able to see embedded photos and videos directly on Twitter, unlike previously when such multi-media was displayed on other websites or browser tabs.

The company has reached agreements to display content from more than a dozen online photo and video sites, including Google-owned YouTube, Yahoo's Flickr, GoJustin.TV, Twitgoo, TwitPic, TwitVid, Ustream, Vimeo, and yfrog.

The redesigned site also makes it simpler to see information about authors of Twitter posts and conversations among Twitter users.

"This is really a complete revamp," Williams said, adding, "Once you start using it, what you are going to see is that everything is very responsive... The entire front end is re-engineered to be more agile, more responsive."

The new features are aimed at attracting more advertisers to Twitter.com that faces stiff competition from social networking site Facebook.


The four-year-old San Francisco company is developing a platform for advertisers who want to promote products and services. Twitter has more than 160 million customers, while Facebook has over 500 million users.

While it's easy for Facebook users to upload photos and compose messages to be shared with friends, most Twitter customers don't post many messages or share links, Williams said. They mainly read what others post about events, disasters and their own lives.

The changes would roll out as a preview over the next several weeks. During the preview, users would be able to switch back and forth between the old and new format giving them time to grow accustomed to the new look.

"Eventually, everyone will have the updated version of Twitter.com," Williams said.

Twitter.com, which had about 24 million unique visitors last month, has been a simple website with few features. More than 90 million messages or tweets are posted daily on Twitter.

Increasingly, government agencies, news organisations and celebrities around the world are using Twitter to share information or links with followers on the site.

The company had said majority of its users are outside the US in countries such as Japan, South Korea, Brazil and Indonesia.

WE HAVE GOT NEW INTERNET EXPLORER 9 BETA

Get it now from this link:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/internet-explorer/products/ie-9/home?os=winvista&arch=a&browser=other

MAKE YOUR PC RUN AS FAST AS NEW

There could be several hardware-related reasons for a slow computer. For example, the processor, the brain of your computer, may be too slow to run today’s demanding software. It may drag along if you have several programs running simultaneously. Then, there is RAM - the temporary memory the computer uses to do its calculations. If you do not have enough RAM, your programs will run slowly.

For better speed, you can upgrade the processor or RAM. A tune-up may also do the job. All you need to do is tweaking some settings to breathe new life into your PC.

STEP 1

For those who believe their computer lags at start up, a quick look at the MSConfig would be the place to start. MSConfig can be accessed by hitting the Windows button on keyboard along with R key. This will bring up the ‘Run’ dialog. Type "MSConfig" and you will get the "Start Up" tab with a list of programs and executables that are launched when the computer starts up.

Starting up of too many programs when the computer boots could be a reason why the boot time is so long. The remedy would be to go through the entire list and uncheck the unnecessary items. If there are entries you are not sure about, check them on the internet, as unchecking the wrong entries could potentially mess up the functionality of some of your programs.


STEP 2

Defragment the hard drive once a month. It’s like changing your car’s oil — it should be the one thing on your list even if you don’t do anything else. Windows stores information about your programs in the Registry. This can get cluttered and affect performance. The solution is to download free registry cleaners from the internet (eg CCleaner) to remove redundant program entries.

STEP 3

Indexing Services is a nifty little program that uses a large amount of RAM. This processes indexes and updates lists of files on your computer. This is done so that when you search for something, it can search faster by scanning the index lists.

So, if you don’t search your computer often, turn it off would better performance. Simply go to ‘Start’ button on taskbar, click on ‘Control Panel’ and select ‘Add/Remove Programs’. Find the tab ‘Add/Remove Window Components’ and uncheck ‘Indexing Services’. Click Next.

Also, if there is a delay every time you open ‘My Computer’ to browse folders, try this. Open ‘My Computer,’ click on ‘Tools’, select ‘Folder Options,’ click on the ‘View’ tab to uncheck the ‘Automatically search for network folders and printers’ box. Click ‘Apply’ and then reboot your computer for changes to apply.

STEP 4

Hard drive performance plummets as you near the drive’s maximum capacity. Assuming you don’t have an additional drive to move the content to, your choices are slim. But before you take a machete to your files, you may want to compress them.

Use the built-in compression tool in Windows, which makes accessing the files no different from it currently is. Go to ‘Disk Cleanup’ and make sure ‘Compress Old Files’ is checked. Click ‘Options’ and specify the age of the files you want Windows to compress — Windows will compress only the files you haven’t accessed in more than six months (or as specified).

STEP 5

An important feature of Windows is its ability to return system files to the state they were in earlier. Before tweaking, users can create a new "Restore Point." Go to Control Panel>Performance and Maintenance>System Restore or Start-All Programs > Accessories > System Tools>System Restore and select "Create a restore point."

If it is left alone, this can consume a good portion of your disk space with unnecessary restore points. By default, it uses up to 12 per cent of each of your drives and, even if you have a big hard drive, many extra restore points can slow down processes like virus checking, disk-defragmenting, etc. Typically, how much space you should allot to system restore depends on your system (200 MB - the minimum allowed - will hold 5 or 6 restore points) and should suffice for average users.

STEP 6

Also, the Windows XP (and Windows Vista) computers have features like smooth animated menus and transparent windows.

These use processor resources, too, which means they can cause slowdown. Right-click the ‘My Computer’ icon and click ‘Properties’. Click the ‘Advanced’ tab and under ‘Performance’, click ‘Settings.’ Choose to switch off some of these effects and see the improvement in your PC’s performance.

STEP 7

Accumulated dust in computer cases a reason for over-heated PCs. Dust gets into the ball bearings in the fan and cause the fan to stop working. This may lead to overheating of processor and permanent hardware failure. It is less common, but static charges from dust can also be a threat. A layer of dust on a memory chip can cause static electricity to build up. This can amount to electric charge, which discharges on to your motherboard or memory chip. The best way to stop dust from building up is to open the case on your PC and vacuum it.

(We recommend never tweak without knowing how to return where you began)

GET MORE OUT OF YOUR FREE GOOGLE ACCOUNT

So you have a Google account? While the search engine and the free Gmail account by now are common, the Internet giant also offers picture sharing through Picasa, blogging through Blogger, videos through YouTube and social networking through Orkut. But that is not what I want to focus on today.

The company has been either acquiring or building Web-based software so fast that many nice little features that you can use get overlooked. I illustrate a few here.

In search, a small link on the side of the Google search box talks of “advanced search” that needs to be leveraged better. Rather than a random search, this can help you define the exact terms or phrases that you are looking for, and more important, you can even specify domains, file format or language. For instance, if it is news you are looking for, you can just list news sites like CNN or hindustantimes.com and hope to get a refined reply.

While Google offers its Microsoft Office-like productivity software for word processing, presentations and spreadsheets at its documents site (http://docs.google.com) the site also offers you software under which you can create survey forms and even do a drawing. These can be additional to the usual applications.

My real favourite is the Google Calendar (http://calendar.google.com). Though you can now set you calendar and diary items on your commonplace mobile phones, where Google Calendar scores is that it is integrated with telecom service providers.

Typing a calendar entry is much easier on a desktop. You can fill in your appointments, and choose your own options in getting reminders by email and/or on your mobile phone.

I have used it so that I get the full address of my appointment venue (which I simply cut and paste from email to calendar) messaged to me on my mobile phone on the morning of a meeting.

Such little features can dramatically enhance the comfort of a Web-based lifestyle.

NEW FACEBOOK FAD: QUITTING IT

New Delhi, May 14 -- The tech world is buzzing with the new facebook fad. No, it does not involve hanging out on facebook or a new application which has caught everyone's fancy; instead many users are deleting their facebook account citing privacy concern.

Several high profile technology pundits and celebs are kicking the world's number one social networking site to the curb. Meanwhile, Facebook is making it difficult for users to delete their accounts.

Most users feel uncomfortable that their personal information is being sashayed on the internet and complain that adjusting their privacy setting is far too complex. Recently a glitch in the chat functionality gave access to people to view the user's conversations.

Interestingly, a back up plan may already be in place for ex-Facebookers- 'Diaspora'. A group of programmers have already raised $100,000 for their Diaspora project which they call "an open source personal web server that will put individuals in control of their data."

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FIVE HIDDEN DANGERS OF FACEBOOKING

An expert in online privacy has drawn attention to the five dangers of sharing information on social networking site Facebook.

Joan Goodchild, senior editor of CSO (Chief Security Officer) Online, claims marketing efforts by the company often results in a compromise on account holders' privacy, reports CBS News.

Goodchild noted five risks of using Facebook on 'The Early Show on Saturday Morning.' They are:

1.Your information is being shared with third parties

2. Privacy settings revert to a less safe default mode after each redesign

3. Facebook ads may contain malware

4. Your real friends unknowingly make you vulnerable

5. Scammers are creating fake profiles

Earlier this week, 15 privacy and consumer protection organizations filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, alleging that the site manipulates privacy settings to make users' personal information available for commercial use.

SHAKESPEARE'S "ROMEO AND JULIET" IN TWITTER TWIST

LONDON – One of Shakespeare's most famous plays gets a 21st century makeover in a new version of "Romeo and Juliet" which will unfold through Twitter messages and on the Youtube video website.

Entitled "Such Tweet Sorrow," the experiment is a collaboration between the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and Mudlark, which produces entertainment on mobile telephones.

The production will take place over five weeks and allows for the characters to interact not only among themselves but also with members of the "audience."
Each character writes their own tweets, guided by an existing storyline and diary which outlines where they are at any moment in the adventure.

And so two families named after the original adversaries the Montagues and Capulets have loathed each other for years after a fatal car crash in an unnamed English market town in 2000.

Juliet, played by actress Charlotte Wakefield, is just turning 16 and wonders whether she should have a birthday party to celebrate. She posts a video on Youtube showing viewers a typical teenager's bedroom.
Her Twitter name is @julietcap16 while Romeo's entry into the messaging world comes later as "he is too busy on his Xbox."

"We have no real idea of what the next five weeks will bring, but we are holding onto our seatbelts," said Charles Hunter from Mudlark.

Michael Boyd, artistic director of the RSC, added: "Our ambition is always to connect people with Shakespeare and bring actors and audiences closer together.

"Mobile phones don't need to be the antichrist for theater. This digital experiment ... allows our actors to use mobiles to tell their stories in real time and reach people wherever they are in a global theater."