Twitter Going to Sell Data To Microsoft or Google ?

Micro-blogging site Twitter is reportedly in licensing talks with both Microsoft and Google.

“Ever since Twitter launched, people have been wondering how the company plans to make money. One possibility was that it would launch its own search engine but going up against Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! isn’t something a lot of companies are eager to do. So what else can Twitter do to make money? Well, according to All Things Digital, Microsoft and Google are both speaking to Twitter regarding data-mining agreements and there are a several scenarios being discussed when it comes to compensating the site

Google Going To Buy Twitter ?

“Just a few weeks ago, Twitter finalized a funding round that values it at around $1 billion, despite criticism and concerns over its ability to generate revenue and continue its growth. One piece of the puzzle may be falling into place: Twitter’s reported to be in advanced talks for mutli-million search deals with Microsoft and Google.

Clearly, Google sees great value in Twitter and its real-time search. It also faces new, stiff competition from Bing and even Facebook. The news of the deal poses an important question, though: Does Google need Twitter? And if so, how much? The answer to that question could be the difference in the Google vs. Bing battle.

Google Timeline says Linux from year 1910 !

Google Timeline is a snazzy experimental feature which generates timelines for search queries. That “experimental” part seems to be there for a reason, as the results for a Linux search claim that Linux has been around since the 1910ies. Then, after a brief reappearance in the 1920ies, it disappears from the

Join the Minimalist Google Homepage Prototype

You might have heard of the new experiment Google is running for its homepage, showing only logo and search box (and apparently search buttons, at times) unless your mouse moves over the page. To join this prototype, you can go to google.com and type the following into the address bar, then hit return and reload the page:

 

javascript:void(document.cookie="PREF=ID=abac7a90f5a3784b:LD=en:NR=10:TM=1254990196:LM=1254990236:S=uB6F4jDnMP_DuxtT;path=/; domain=.google.com");

I’m making this my Google homepage for now to see how it goes, I kinda like it (in my browser I often hit Ctrl + N, type google, hit Ctrl + return, then enter some search string, and hit return again).

A Handy Tool for Adding Screen Captures in Gmail and Google Docs

Let’s say you are working in Google Docs or writing an email inside Gmail and need to add a screenshot image into your current message /document. How do you do this?

You will first capture the screenshot using the good old Print-Screen key (or via some screen capture utility), then you’ll save that screenshot to a file and will finally upload that image file from the desktop into your email message /document. Right?

If that’s your workflow, iClippy can help you simplify it. iClippy is a screen capture tool that also comes with some free online storage so the moment you capture an image on your desktop, it will also become available on the Internet.

Online Clipboard for Gmail and Google Docs

Jing, Skitch and a dozen other tools offer similar functionality but what’s unique about iClippy is that it lets you copy-paste screenshot images into web applications (like email or online word processors) with one click without having to save the pictures to the local computer first. Here’s how:

When you capture screenshots with iClippy, it collects them in your desktop sidebar and simultaneously uploads them onto the web. If you like to add one of these captured screenshots into another application, just click on the screenshot thumbnail in the sidebar and it will automatically be added to your clipboard. Now open any another application where you want to use that screenshot and hit Ctrl+V to paste it.

OCR with Screen Capture

You may use iClippy to directly paste screenshot images in Google Docs, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Skype, or even the online blogging editors of Blogger and WordPress.

When you perform a screen capture with iClippy, it will add both the image and the web URL to the clipboard. This is useful because if you do a paste in an IM window or the Twitter message box, only the URL of the screenshot image will appear but if you do the same operation in a rich text editor (like that of Gmail), the actual screenshot image will be added and not the URL.

iClippy also includes OCR functions so it can help you extract text from screenshot images of error dialogs, etc. I could not get this to work on Windows 7 as the program would crash each time I hit the OCR button. Otherwise, it looks like a useful program for people who have frequently include screenshots in the emails.

Google Search Options Come to Mobile

Back in May, when Google launched a spiffy new suite of search options at their Searchology event, users got a gambit of new tools for exploring different kinds of content posted withing different time ranges.

Today, Google has announced that the same options are coming to mobile search. Now, mobile users will have the same options on-the-go as they do when using Google search from their personal computer.

For many smartphone users in the U.S., search options will include the ability to pare down and filter results to get very specific, optimized pages. This will apply for owners of iPhones, Android devices, and Palm WebOS devices.

As Google software engineer Reza Ziaei wrote this evening on the Google Mobile blog, "You can do this simply by searching for the name of the product. Then, on the search results page, use ‘Options’ to filter by ‘Forums’ and refine further by choosing ‘Past week.’ See the screenshots below for a sample query. Try these and other Search Options yourself by simply doing a mobile search on google.com and selecting Options."

Get Google Wave Shortcut

 

So y Shortcut ou’ve snagged an invitation to Google Wave—or a pal is sending one your way—and you’ve already taken a look at what to expect. Let’s dive deeper into Wave features, etiquette, and extensions.

Learn Wave’s Keyboard Shortcuts

Every good webapp has a full set of keyboard shortcuts for getting around and performing the most common actions, and happily Google Wave is no exception. While Wave is still missing a whole lot of shortcuts, there are a few you must know now. Here are the essential shortcuts to learn first:

• Arrow keys: Move up/down within a list of waves, and left/right from inbox to open wave panel with your arrow keys.
• Spacebar: Go to the next unread wave in a list
• Ctrl+E: Edit a selected wave
• Shift+Enter (in edit mode): Finish editing your wave; equivalent to clicking the "Done" button
• Enter: Add a reply to a selected wave directly under it
• Shift+Enter (in view mode): Add a reply to the bottom of a list of waves

Google Puts an .EXE File on their Homepage

This a screenshot of the Google homepage inside Internet Explorer.

If you click the "Update Now" link on the Google home page, it will download an executable file – setgooglesearch.exe – on the desktop that will set Google as the default search engine inside IE.

Now Google regularly uses that space to advertise their other products but I think its the first time that they have placed a direct link to an .exe file on the homepage. And since its not mentioned anywhere that the link points to an executable, most people would only realize it once they have clicked the link.

Do you agree with this approach?

LiveJournal Tags: Google Search