Twitter Now Offers Global Alerts
Twitter has unveiled a new global tracking option that allows you to get messages based on term rather than user.
For example, you can now subscribe to be notified any time anyone posts a public twit about “Laptops.”
At the moment the new feature only works through IM and text messaging, though the company says it plans to roll out the feature over RSS, e-mail and even in the API in the near future.
To use the keyword tracking you’ll need to set up your phone to use Twitter and then send a command like “track Laptop.”
Any time someone posts a public twitter using the word “Laptop” you’ll be notified. To unsubscribe the command is “untrack Laptop,” or to turn off all tracking send “track off.”
Presumably you can turn all your tracks back on with “track on” though the Twitter blog doesn’t explicitly mention this option.
To get a list of what you’re tracking send “tracks.”
The new features give Twitter users the ability to track topics somewhat similar to the way many use Technorati to tracks blog topics.
However, there are a number of things missing that I feel would make the new service much more useful.
A good example would be the ability to track terms by user.
In other words would only get notices when selected users post selected terms. Without that sort of fine-grained control the new features may well produce more noise than signal.
But despite some shortcomings, the new features add a whole other dimension to the service and make it significantly more useful.
Buying Some Love From Your Mobile Phone
According to some recent snooping around by Juniper Research, mobile dating services will bring in a hefty $1 billion from the lovelorn by 2010.
How many of you out there use dating services or know someone who does?
A childhood friend of mine was recently married, and he met his wife-to-be via an online dating service. They aren’t the only ones.
This year 40 million people are expected to use mobile dating services such as chat rooms for singles.
That number will surge to 260 million by 2012, creating quite an opportunity for providers of dating services to take advantage of the lonely.
According to Juniper, the loneliest people are in India and Japan, the two regions that account for the bulk of mobile dating subscribers.
The problem, of course, is that these services cost money. Report author Dr. Windsor Holden said:
Major brands such as Match.com and Webdate have recognized that customers are willing to pay a mobility premium for 24/7 access to these services and are increasing deploying mobile applications to complement and enhance their existing offerings.
For subscribers who are tacking messaging and data services to their calling plans, adding another $10 a month so they can flirt with strangers via their cell phones can be a barrier to entry.
On top of that, many are using the mobile services in addition to existing, fixed-internet services to which they already subscribe.
The best bet for providers is to enable rich mobile access to existing fixed-line services for a very nominal fee.
RIM Launches ‘Built For BlackBerry’ Web Site
RIM has aggregated a host of BlackBerry software on a new Web site. Everything from news to navigation is available for download in what looks like an attempt to remind people that they can do more with their BlackBerries than just check email.
Lest you forget, the BlackBerry sitting in that holster on your hip is a powerful platform called a smartphone. While its base function is to provide you with round-the-clock access to your inbox, there’s an entire ecosystem of software for BlackBerries that let them do a whole lot more.
This new Web site from RIM, called Built for BlackBerry, serves as a repository for applications all categorized for easy access and download.
They are separated into six groups: News, Sports, Travel/Weather, Games/Entertainment, Lifestyle, and Navigation/Mapping.
In each group there are a handful of applications. These are not browser bookmarks, but actual applications that are downloaded and installed on the BlackBerry home screen in the form of an icon.
Users can then access the information or content they want by going to that icon on their BlackBerry. For some specific things, like travel updates, this can speed things up by allowing you to skip launching the browser and then finding your favorite travel site.
Not all the software is free, though. Some of it is shareware, and other applications let you download a 30-day trial for free, with the assumption that you’ll pay at some point in the future to use the software.
Another BlackBerry Outage Being Reported
Various sites on the Internet are reporting that BlackBerry users are experiencing trouble for the second time in 5 months.
According to The Boy Genius Report, the blackout is occurring across all networks and is likely a problem with RIM’s systems, and not the individual carriers.
This time, it is more than mobile email that is being impacted, but all access to mobile data as well.
Reports of problems are coming in from T-Mobile and AT&T users in the U.S. T-Mobile acknowledged that it is seeing problems with BlackBerry services globally, and not just in the U.S.
RIM has not responded to requests for information, and no time frame has been put in place outlining when the problems will be resolved.
Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t RIM co-CEO Balsillie vow that BlackBerry users would never experience a blackout similar to the one that occurred several months ago?
Open mouth, insert foot…
Skype 3.5.0.229 Released
On Wednesday the Skype development team released version 3.5.0.229 which is a small bugfix release.
I meant to post about this the other day but I’ve been debugging a new application with a programming friend, so I was a little distracted.
- bugfix: Skype crashed when ending a call and Do More menu is open at the same time
- bugfix: Send Money did not work
- bugfix: Skype crashed when call was finished during call transfer attempt
- bugfix: Skype crashes on Windows 98 when receiving video
- bugfix: Video call freeze with some rare webcam’s
- bugfix: Skype crashed sometimes when not supported video capture device was used
- change: Updated language files
Take note of the fix for Windows 98. People are still running that in a real world application setting? I’ve recently used it for a new MAME machine I’m working on but that’s about it.
Even though this is only a bugfix release and not a major security release, you should still upgrade.
It’s always better to be running the latest stable version of any application… with the exception of Internet Explorer 7… oh how I dislike Internet Exploder.
Now that you know “what’s new” with Skype, go grab the latest version for your Operating System of choice.
A little bit about Skype:
Skype is internet communications. Skype is software that lets you use your computer and internet connection to communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world.
Yahoo Issues Messenger Security Fix
Yahoo has issued a patch for its instant messaging client, Yahoo Messenger.
The patch issued Wednesday addresses a buffer overflow vulnerability in an ActiveX control. Users who installed Yahoo Messenger before August 29, 2007 should install the update.
Microsoft’s ActiveX controls can interact with the full Windows operating system, unlike Java applets. This gives them a lot of power and also makes them potentially risky.
iDefense Labs identified the Yahoo Messenger vulnerability:
Exploitation allows attackers to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the currently logged in user. Users would be required to have a vulnerable version of the target software installed and be lured to a malicious site.
Yahoo issued another security patch for Yahoo Messenger on August 21.
That patch addressed two security issues with the way the software’s Webcam functions work: susceptibility to a denial-of-service attack following a malicious Webcam invitation and a buffer overflow that could lead to the introduction of executable code by an attacker.