Daily Bits

Arnold Zafra

Scribd Rolls Out “Send to Device” Feature

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Mobile devices are really the new norm in cloud storage services. Aside from SugarSync’s latest feature that lets you send files via email attachment, Scribd, also a file management service in the cloud is rolling out almost the same feature. Scribd just launch its “send to device” service that will allow you to make your documents stored on Scribd accessible via smartphones and e-readers.

It’s a pretty clever idea really and very timely especially since both smartphones and e-readers are getting the massive usage lately. So, if you’re a Scribd account holder you can now practically send any Scribd document be it your own or those readily available on the Scribd site to your mobile devices with a click of a button. What’s good about this feature is that you can send practically any file, from MS Word to PDFs and access them on your e-reader or smartphones. The service works for free and for-purchase books and chapters from major publishers.

To use this feature for your own documents, make sure to set these documents to DRM-free status and allow downloads. And if the documents that you are sending out are not supported by your smartphones or e-reader, don’t fret out because Scribd is also planning to roll out a series of new mobile applications for Android and iPhone that will let you read files that you transferred from Scribd.

Sounds good? Actually yes, saves you some bucks if you get the Amazon Kindle or other e-reader just to get your book reading fix  via a mobile and portable device.

Sugarsync Now Lets You Upload Docs as Email Attachments

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Isn’t it funny that even up to now, despite the many advances in cloud computing, file sharing and uploading which can be accessible on various platforms, many people still prefer to share files through email? So to remedy this and offer its customers a convenient way of sharing files, SugarSync, a file syncing solution is offering a subscription service which would only cost you $4.99 a month.

The new SugarSync feature will let you email files to your friends and business contacts easily from any computer terminal and other mobile devices such as your smartphones.  After emailing the file attachment, SugarSync syncs them with your other SugarSync interface.

The new service is being offered as an opt-in feature which will allow you to disable and enable it anytime you want to. Upon signing up for the service, SugarSync will provide you with an email address where you can send your files. This email address are spam-free since it is composed of randomly generated numbers.

If you want to try the feature, you need to enable it from your SugarSync account settings. Once you’ve enabled the feature, the unique email address will be given to you. And to make it easier for you to use that email address, you can instruct SugarSync to send you an email containing the email address so that you can easily add it to your email contacts.

Once you’ve uploaded files, these will be stored in your Magic Briefcase, specifically in a folder labelled “Uploaded by email.”  This folder will be automatically synced to your SugarSync account so that you can access it from anywhere.

We Are Now Posting 50 Million Tweets Daily

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Funny how a short post on the Twitter blog could spark an online discussion that even led to the long-standing Twitter vs. Facebook war.  Yesterday, a post on the Twitter blog announced that we, Twitter users are now sending 50 million tweets into the Twitter-sphere everyday. Now, how’s that for another issues that says Twitter is not growing?

But anyway, yes Twitter has just grown to 50 million tweets a day. Up from 5,000 times a day in 2007, 300,000 in 2008 and 2.5 million in 2009. Right now, it’s at a 50 million per day or 600 tweets per second. If you won’t call that exponential growth, I have no idea what else you can call this phenomenon.

And that doesn’t include spammy tweets. Twitter has removed tweets from accounts that were identified as spam.

Now, the issue that were raised by some analyst is whether Facebook has all the reason to be afraid of Twitter’s growth. Facebook updates were last reported at 60 million per day.  That means that Twitter is fast catching up. But that is in terms of daily updates. When it comes to total number of users and even monthly page views – Twitter is still far inferior to Facebook.

I really think that there is no point of comparison here and we should all try to pause for awhile and rethink how we view Twitter vis-a-vis Facebook. I’m more inclined to think that Twitter compliments Facebook. Facebook is more of a social networking site while Twitter is more of a real-time online communication tool.

But then, who am I to change this predominant mindset, anyway?

Profiling Americans Who Are Least Likely to Go Online

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Hot on the heels of carrying out its plans of providing high-speed Internet access to Americans, the FCC has just released an interesting report providing the profile of users who are least likely to adopt broadband subscriptions.

The report categorizes these users as either digitally distant, digital hopefuls, digitally uncomfortable and new converts. According to the report 20% of Americans are digitally distant and digitally uncomfortable.

Digitally distant users are described as those who are retired and say that they don’t subscribe to broadband either because they don’t know how to use a PC or don’t see a need to use the Internet at home or anywhere else. Around 10% of the American population falls into this category, and include those whose ages ranges from 63 and older.

Digitally uncomfortable Americans on the other hand are those who can afford high-speed Internet service but would rather not subscribe to because they lack the skills to use it. Around 7% of  Americans fall into this category.

The other two categories of U.S. population are the so called digital hopefuls and the Near Converts. Digital hopefuls are those who like to subscribe to broadband Internet but don’t have the money to pay for fees. They make up around 8% of the American population.

And then you have the Near Converts comprised of Americans  who are mostly dial-up users who are still thinking whether they would pay $40 for broadband Internet access. They make up 10% of the American population.

So, to which category do you see yourself belonging to? Are you currently subscribe to a broadband Internet access or if not, are you planning to subscribe to in the near future?

You can check out the full FCC report here.

Online Image Editor Aviary Joins the Free App Crowd

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I first learned about Aviary a couple of months ago, back then  I could only try out some of its features and wished that its other advanced features were free that time. A couple of months after, here’s Aviary finally setting its powerful suite of browser-based design tools free for anyone to use.

To set things straight this early, Aviary is not just online image editor. Like I said it’s a suite of web applications made specifically for creative people who want to create stuff and do more with their photos and creations.

Three key features of Aviary which has been added since it is now a free online app include:

  • saving private files
  • automatic addition of watermark
  • access to all the tutorials on how to effectively use Aviary’s suite of creation tools

If you’ve used Aviary before and actually  signed up for a paid  subscription in the alst 30 days, here’s a good news – Aviary will refund your payments.

As a creation tool, Aviary offers you six editing tools represented by various bird species. These include:

Phonenix – the main image editing tools such as layers, masks, effects, undo history and more.

Peacock – Aviary’s visual laboratory or the effects editing tools.

Raven – the vector editor.

Falcon – the image markup tool which you can use to capture images and web pages from your browser or desktop and crop, resize or mark them up.

Myna – audio editor which you can use to remix music tracks and audio clips as well as for applying sound effects and record your own voice or instruments.

Toucan – Aviary’s color palette that you can use in conjunction with other creation tools. It also lets you inject color into your creation.

Ready to exercise your creative talents? Check out the free Aviary tools now.

Facebook Allows PayPal Payment for Ads, Virtual Goods

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If there’s one important point that you can get from this news, it’s got to be the fact that Facebook wants you to advertise on the social network. And to make it easy for you to do that, Facebook is now accepting payments through PayPal.

With PayPal activated as a form of payment, you can now run your ad campaigns and get wide visibility through the this planet’s most famous and widely used social networking site. Like what the Facebook PR said, the site reaches 400 million people, 70% of whom live outside the United States. Can you imagine how huge your the audience for your ad campaigns would be?

If you’re running a small business which caters to exporting and importing, here’s your chance to expand your market.

In addition to accepting PayPal payments for ads, Facebook is also doing the same as a payment option for Facebook credits that ca be used for games and apps as well as for buying items from the Facebook Gift Shop.

“We want to give the people who use Facebook, as well as advertisers and developers, a fast and trusted way to pay across our service,” said Dan Levy, director of payment operations, Facebook.

And PayPal’s VP of Platform and Emerging Technology  sums up what this development is all about:

“Put simply, PayPal’s business is payments. We make it easier for customers to send and receive money online in 24 currencies and 190 markets around the world,” said Osama Bedier.

So, if you don’t have a PayPal account yet, now maybe the right time to create one and proceed with your advertising plan on Facebook.