Daily Bits

Twitter Rolls Out New Design

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Have you checked what’s trending on Twitter today?  If so, you couldn’t have possible missed one of the trending topics: #newtwitter.

What’s this #newtwitter buzz all about?  Basically, Twitter is rolling out a new design that will make things easier and more fun for those of us who communicate in 140 words or less on a regular basis.  If you visit the page dedicated to the new Twitter design, I promise you won’t be able to help it – you’ll get excited.  Take a look at the video teaser below.

So the new Twitter is going to have a viewing pane, which will allow users to see videos and photos shared in tweets without having to leave the home page.  That’s obviously handy – who likes leaving a page to see media anyway?  Another development is that users will now have links to @mentions, retweets, searches, and lists just above the timelines, providing easier access as well.

If you think about it, most of these features can be found in other applications that have access to Twitter.  That is precisely the reason why so many Twitter users, including yours truly, use these applications instead of logging in directly to the Twitter web site.  Think TweetDeck.  With the changes, people might just go back to logging in to the Twitter web site.  After watching that video, I think I shall be waiting for my account to reflect the new Twitter look. (Yup, it’s being rolled out gradually, so hold your horses if you’re not seeing any changes yet.)

Well, it IS about time that Twitter did something like this, don’t you think?

The Birth of Real-Life Decepticons?

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I know that we’d all like to think that there are Decepticons in real life, but in rare moments of connecting with reality, even the most avid believers in the Masters of Deceptions just might acknowledged that they are not, well, real.  Then again, I just might be wrong in saying that.

A group of researchers from Georgia University have developed real-life robots that might eventually turn out to be masters of deceptions!  What they’ve done is to come up with an algorithm that allows the machines to make decisions as to whether or not deceive other robots.  If you think that’s pretty cool, you’ll think this awesome: the algorithm also equips the robots with the capability to deceive humans!

How were they able to determine if the algorithm actually works?

They engaged the robots in several games of hide-and-seek!  Simplicity is beauty, so they say, and it seems to be the case here.  David Teeghman describes this interesting version of the childhood game that we all loved to play:

During the games, colored markers were lined up along three potential pathways to locations where the robot could hide. The hider selected a location from the three location choices, and moved toward that point, knocking down markers along the way. Once it reached a point past the markers, the robot changed course and hid in one of the other two locations, making sure not to hit any markers by its actual hiding spot.

Developing this algorithm required interdependence theory and game theory that tested the value of deception in a specific situation. The game satisfied two key conditions that the robots needed to warrant deception: There must be conflict between the deceiving robot and the seeker, and the deceiver must benefit from the deception.

I have to say that while the concept – and the fact that it actually worked – is nothing short of amazing, but I can’t help but think of the Cyclons and all other movies/shows that relate how man created robots and how the creations turned on their masters eventually.  At present, the researchers say that the main purpose for these robots is simply for the battlefield – to save lives and all that.  Still, who is to say that real life events will not somehow get turned into a science fiction plot? Or is this just paranoia?

FontPark: Get Your Fill of Fonts

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Tired of using the same old font forever? There are some people who tend to stick with the same old font for years.  However, it is always a good thing to shake things up a bit every now and then.  This is especially true if the font you have been using forever does not match the new theme that you are planning to implement in your blog.  More so, if your favorite font is not really user friendly, you really have no choice but to use something else that will help your reader.

Now that’s only one group. There are people who just can’t get enough of fonts!  Designers, of course, need to have a wide array of fonts at their disposal.  And, even if you’re not a designer, you can never really have enough fonts to play with anyway.


If you belong to the second group, here’s something that just might make you feel like a little kid in a candy store: FontPark.  This web site has more than 70,000 fonts that you can use.  Yes, that’s 70,000 fonts that anyone can download and use. The best part? All 70,000++ fonts are free to download and use.  Whether you are going to use the fonts for personal or commercial purposes, you don’t have to pay!

There are actually a lot of other sites from which you can download fonts.  Of course, some of the best sites will charge you to download their fonts.  In most of these web sites, you will be able to find fonts for free as well, but for the most part, you will have to pay for the nicer fonts.  I suppose that’s the biggest advantage of FontPark.

It is easy enough to navigate, like many other font sites.  You can browse the collection alphabetically or by category.  Alternatively, you can do a search of your own.  Oh, and the fonts are not all letters – you can find all sorts of interesting characters as well.  You can preview each font so that you can see exactly what it looks like.  More so, the fonts can be used for PC, Max, and Linux.

I know now where I am going to go if I need to change my routine a bit!

Priority Inbox Tips Straight from Google

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Have you used your Priority Inbox yet?  I shall write this post under the assumption that you activated the new Gmail feature the moment you saw that red notification in the upper right corner of your browser.  (I know I did!)

A little over a week since the Priority Inbox was launched, it seems to me that it is not generating a lot of excitement.  I jumped right into the water by activating the feature, and I am still using it.  Yeah, I guess my Inbox does look more manageable now, but somehow, I feel as if I were missing something.  Maybe I am. Maybe you are, too.

Well, the Google team shared five tips to make the most of the Priority Inbox in the Gmail Blog yesterday.  Let’s take a quick look – maybe these tips will fan the flames of enthusiasm again.

  1. Customize your sections. Did you know that you can further tweak the sections so that you will see exactly what you want to see in your Inbox?  You can add sections, indicate labels that you want to be shown, and even control the number of messages to be shown for each section.
  2. Train the system. Truth be told, I have been spending too much time on doing this.  I know I can train the system as I go along, but it’s just a lot of fun going through months’ worth of e-mails and labeling each as important or not.
  3. See the best of your filtered messages.  Okay, this one totally escaped me the first time.  Anyhow, you can override filters so that messages deemed important (but with filters) will still be shown in your Priority Inbox.
  4. Use filters to guarantee certain messages get marked important (or not). More on filters? If ALL the e-mails your boss sends you are important, then simply create a filter that will cause all e-mails from your boss’s address to be marked as important.
  5. Archive unimportant messages quickly.  Too many e-mails in the “Everything Else” section? Just click on the drop down menu and archive shown messages in one fell swoop.

So tell me, do you find any of these tips helpful?

Google Instant for Lazy Information Seekers

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If you’re anything like me, you use Google to search for practically everything.  More so, you probably conduct searches hundreds of times within the day (and that may not be an exaggeration either).  How often have you hit enter/return before you’ve actually completed your search query?  Embarrassingly, that happens quite a lot to me. The good news is that it seems I am not alone in this.

It seems that quite a lot of people encounter the same issue – otherwise, the guys at Google wouldn’t have bothered to come up with Google Instant.  No, it is not coffee.  It’s not even noodles that come in cups.  What Google Instant is: search on the fly.

Imagine typing out your search query, and as you type, Google predicts what you are looking for. The search results will actually come out as you key in your search terms. It’s pretty much like the predictive text input on mobile phones, but I suppose much better. Here’s visual sampling of what Google Instant can do for you.

Pretty neat, huh? Based on the post in the Official Google Blog, the guys had to make use of new technologies in order to make Google Instant work. Some of the highlights:

  1. new caching systems
  2. ability to adaptively control the rate at which results are displayed
  3. optimization of page-rendering JavaScript (this is so that various web browsers can deal with the system)

As with many other new features/products of Google, not everyone has access to Google Instant yet. The same blog post says that it will be available on Chrome, Firefox, Safari and IE 8. Also, users in countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and the U.K. will get to experience Instant first. Other countries will have access in the following months.

PlayStation Move: Will It Replace the Wii?

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No one can deny just how much Nintendo has changed the face of the gaming landscape, thanks to the Wii. It was only a matter of time before other manufacturers developed something similar, and lo and behold, we are about to see Sony’s answer: the PlayStation Move. News about this game controller platform started circulating mid last year, but now, we have something more concrete.

This time next week, PlayStation Move will be released. Testers have already tried out the platform, and it seems that Sony just might beat Nintendo in terms of hardware. This is hardly surprising, as hardcore gamers have always looked down on the capabilities of the Nintendo Wii. The big drawback to PlayStation Move, however, is the lack of games that will entice people to line up for it on the first day of its arrival.

Hardware-wise, PlayStation Move is very responsive and easy to use. It makes use of the PlayStation Eye, which will serve as the sensor to detect your motions when you use the controller, which is eerily similar to the Wii-mote. For gamers who complain that you can excel in Wii Sports without much difficulty, you might enjoy the need for accuracy when playing Sports Champions on PlayStation Move. Based on reports, even a slight flick of your wrist will make a difference in the outcome of the game! (Needless to say, Sports Champions is much like Wii Sports – no surprise there.)

There isn’t much by way of other game titles as of now, but if anything, we know that Sony’s game consoles tend to start out as slow as a turtle. My bet is that Move will soon catch up. Who knows? It might even replace the Wii!

Photo credit: Product Reviews