Daily Bits

Google Buzz Gets An Official Share Button

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If you  liked Buzz since day one chances are you’ve probably clicked on those Google Buzz share buttons developed and implemented by top blogs such as Mashable and TechCrunch. You may have also used some “unofficial” follow me on Google Buzz buttons in your blogs or websites. The thing is implementing those unofficial Google Buzz buttons maybe a tedius process and may require some codings and all.

But that was the case before, not until now. Google has just launch the official Google Buzz sharing buttons. Starting today, you’d be seeing more of those official Google Buzz share buttons on top sites which have partnered with Google. These include The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Glamour, YouTube and others. These buttons will make it easier for you to share interesting news items you find on the Internet and post it as updates to your Google Buzz accounts.

Likewise, those third-party share widgets/buttons such as Share This, Shareholic and other have also started implementing the Google Buzz button in their widgets.

Now, to post the Google Buzz button in your own blog/site, you can grab the Javascript code from this site and paste it to your site’s code.  You can also add the official follow me on Google Buzz button to your blogs/sites by also grabbing the code for it from the said site.

There you go, some new ways to spread the buzz and if you don’t like Google Buzz – add some more noise to the Buzz sphere.

Facebook Updates its Safety Center

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Facebook wants to tell the world that it is really serious about your safety as it strives to create an online environment where everyone can connect with anybody, share updates and stuff without getting bothered by possible phising, malware and privacy attacks. To reiterate its vow in protecting user privacy, Facebook just launched a completely redesigned Safety Center.

The Facebook Safety Center offers new safety resources for parents, educators, teens and members of the law enforcement community. Facebook has also created a cleaner and more navigable interfaces that would help you find answers to questions relating to your safety as you use Facebook.

It also contains multimedia contents culled from Facebook itself as well as from independent organizations which specializes in online safety and security. You can find safety-related content organized by audience type and by topics including “Addressing Personal Safety” and “Responding to Objectionable Content.” If you’re a parent you can easily find the “Safety for Parents” section where you’ll get advice from Facebook’s partners such as the Safety Advisory Board.

The Facebook Safety Advisory Board includes members such as the Childnet International, Common Sense Media, Connect Safely, The Family Online Safety Institute and WiredSafety.

And while you’re checking out the new Facebook Safety Center page, you might also want to read on other important Facebook rules, policies and guidelines. It’s located just below the page and include information on – Facebook Privacy FAQ, Privacy Policy, Guide to Privacy on Facebook and other relevant Facebook official documents.

Move Over iPad, Here Comes the WePad

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There you go. What was being touted as an iPad killer even before the iPad was officially released finally gets to come out of the closet and was finally and officially launched. We’re talking about the WePad. It’s definitely not the plural form of the iPad but rather a different product, created by the German company – Neofonie.

Some of the things that we don’t know yet about WePad are pretty interesting. For example, reports said that there will be two WePad models – a 16GB WiFi and 64GB HD-capable unit.  The rest of the WePad specs and features are pretty impressive, well of course if you’re looking at it from the perspective of what a tablet should be.

The WePad boasts of 11.6-inch touchscreen display, Intel Atom N450 CPU, two USB ports, onboard webcam, and of course something which has been much sought after from the iPad – Flash support.

And some of the major features that you can enjoy with the WePad include – browse the Internet, watch YouTube, check email, chat with friends on Facebook and more.

The WePad is also banking on the open-source dictum, having built the WePad’s platform on Android and Linux.  So, you can just imagine the possibility of more apps coming into the WePad’s way once it becomes publicly available.

WePad is also promising something about “WeMagazine.” This is an ePublishing Open Platform that provides publishers with tools necessary to develop their publication-specific applications for the WePad.

Could the WePad revolutionize the web magazine  publishing industry? Will it be able to steal the thunder away from the Apple iPad?  Are Flash support and Android or Linux OS enough to convince you to get the WePad?

Apple Approves Opera Mini for iPhone

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Opera continues its trip across various platforms as its Opera Mini browser app has just been approved by Apple. Expect the Opera Mini app to make its appearance in the Apps Store anytime now. Depending on your iTunes, setting the Opera Mini app will be available for free download within 24 hours.

It comes as a surprise that Apple approves the Opera Mini browser since it will definitely compete with Apple’s very own Safari browser on the iPhone and iPod Touch. But it just shows how open Apple is when it comes to competition, although I’m pretty sure that the Opera Mini is not the first approved app which directly competes with an Apple service.

So what does the Opera Mini app brings to the iPhone/iPod Touch table? A couple of good features actually topped by its fast mobile web browsing capability. Credit should be attributed of course to Opera Mini’s compression of web data by up to 90% before sending them to the iPhone/iPod Touch. This results to faster page loading.

Opera Mini will be most useful if your iPhone is running on slower networks such as 2G EDGE. It works great with iPhone 3G and 3GS models and would save you some precious data charges when browsing the web using your iPhone due to data compression.

“We are delighted to offer iPhone and iPod touch users a great browsing experience with the Opera Mini App,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software. “This app is another step toward Opera’s goal of bringing the Web to more people in more places.”

Alright, I know that you’re probably grown tired of using the iPhone/iPod Touch’s Safari browser. Time for a cool change. Check out Opera Mini for iPhone/iPod Touch now.  You may also want to watch a short video demonstrating the features of the Opera Mini browser on iPhone (check out the video after the jump). [Read more…] about Apple Approves Opera Mini for iPhone

Twitter Acquires Tweetie iPhone App

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For quite some time now, despite being one of the top social media service, Twitter has not been so active in the mobile scene.  There are third-party iPhone apps available on various mobile platforms, but none has been coming from Twitter itself.

So after releasing the public beta version of the Twitter for BlackBerry app, Twitter’s next target to fulfill its quest of establishing a mobile presence is the iPhone. Twitter has just acquired Tweetie iPhone app  from AteBits. Tweetie will be renamed as the Twitter for iPhone.

Tweetie is one of  the most popular and widely used Twitter app for iPhone. What’s good about this acquisition and interesting as well is that Twitter plans to release Twitter for iPhone as a free app on the Apps Store. Currently, Tweetie is priced $2.99. So, we should also expect that Twitter for iPhone will be available as an ad-supported app.

Loren Brichter, Tweetie’s owner and developer will become part of the Twitter mobile team. In addition, once the Twitter for iPhone is released, an iPad application will also be released.

Will this spike up Twitter’s clout establishing itself at par with Facebook? Only time can tell. Will you be getting Twitter for iPhone once it gets out? Or are you sticking with your current third-party Twitter app?

Farmville Player Spent £900 Using His Savings and Mother’s Credit Card

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I saw this news covered by a local news program yesterday but at first I didn’t give it much thought since I was waiting the the news program’s coverage of the iPad. Then I saw this new hitting the Techmeme’s headline right now and decided to give it a run.

After reading what happened to the 12-year old kid who spent £900 buying Farmville virtual goods, I could not help but sigh and felt relief that it didn’t happen to me. Two of my teen-age kids are into Farmville as well. But they don’t have access to my credit card.

So, the story goes that the kid spent around $900 to purchase Farmville goods using her mother’s credit card and his own savings. The credit card was used by the kid without her mother’s knowledge. All in the name of putting up the “coolest” farm in Facebook.

Zynga, the game developer refused to refund the amount since the kid lives in her mother’s house.  While the credit card company would only refund if the mother will report his son to the police and give him a police record. Now, what kind of mother would do that to her own son?

So, now. The son’s Farmville account was cancelled. The mother and the kid lost quite a sum of money. And Zynga earns. What a crappy system, right?

The kid and his mother should have read TechCrunch’s series on game monetization schemes of Zynga. This could have been prevented from happening.

Lessons learned?  You know that already.