Miralinks 01/02/09

Its the end of the first month of 2009, and what a month its been. Technology galore yet we cant afford any, economic difficulties worldwide are still rampant, New leader of this country that disappeared 8 years ago, and of course the weather. So while you’re all sipping on your Hot Chocolate, have a look at some of my favourite sites/posts/articles that i found interesting.

Searching on Twitter

Searching for interests on Twitter has never been easier. Because of its open API, developers are creating more complex applications to help sort the messages in Twitter. One of the first, aptly named Summize, paved the way, allowing the end-user to search for topics they found interestiang. In doing so it allows Twitter to be more coherent, and allows for effective listening online. In mid-2008, after demonstrating to the world how useful Summize was, they were aquired by Twitter and now you can find it here at http://search.twitter.com

Another popular way of searching for common interests on Twitter is with the use of hashatgs. Hashtagging means that at the end of a Tweet, a person puts an identifier in the message, using the # character before a word. Then you can just go to hashtags.org and you can see who else is saying what you’re saying. Twitter is an essential utility for people such as myself, but its not without faults. But with the use of Twitter search and Hashtags, it helps bridge the gap, and makes life on Twitter a little more sane.

The Importance of a User name

Alot of people ask me why I use nicknames such as “miralize”. And the answer is quite simple. A user name is an essential way to create interest, readership, and eventaully helps you monitize your websites. It both familiarize the user with its readers, yet maintaining a certain level of anonymity. It gives you an opportunity to brand yourself, while it gives the reader an opportunity to remember you.

Miralinks – 17th Jan 09

Ok so this is basically just to share interesting and useful links that I think my readers (thats you) might enjoy or be interested in.

Irelands first Teencamp got underway in Dublin, with @endac and @alancostello setting it up. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it, but I do admire their work theyve done in setting it up. Videos were recorded of the event courtesy of Damien Mulley and others I have yet to find.

;This week Google announced layoffs and the shutting down of a few projects. One of the main ones, Jaiku, said Google will not developing their codebase anymore. But hope is not lost with the Jaiku blog announcing

While Google will no longer actively develop the Jaiku codebase, the service itself will live on thanks to a dedicated and passionate volunteer team of Googlers.

It will be interesting to see where Jaiku goes now, and although I’ve never been a huge fan, I liked the ambitious featues such as comments and groups.

Also last week both CES 09 and the last Macworld featuring Apple were held in the US. Nothing really that shocking or applaud worthy from Macworld, but the DRM-free songs are a nice treat, albeit one that should have been there at the beginning. Some of the big winners of CES were Asus with an odd EEE family keyboard Media Center PC. and Sony with the Vaio P, but the biggest surprise has to be Palm’s latest smartphone, the “Palm Pre“. [Watch the CES Keynote Here]

Also to no ones surprise, Microsoft announced Windows 7 was about to go into Public Beta. The beta did start off a bit rocky, with the Microsft website crashing several times due to “unprecedented demand”, but now its up and running. I have been using the beta for some time now, and I must say this is better than Vista when it was released. Grab it now, because Microsft ware pulling the plug on January 24th. Full review of Windows 7 coming in the next few days.

Also if anyone could vote for @mcawilliams in the Shorty Awards click here http://short.ie/ntgp4k. Note: You will need a twitter account but its fast and fun!

iPod Touch 2G

Apples “funnest” iPod ever, recently got a new owner, and a happy one at that. This is the latest generation of the iPod touch, with 32GB. Considering that one of my lecturers was constanly giving it negative feedback, I was hesitant in buying one at first. But he was the only person I talked to that had one and wasn’t happy with it. The others praised its 3.5″ touch screen, its high quality music playback, the ever-increasing library of third party applications, and its Wi-Fi connectivity. Recently my old 5th Gen iPod Video failed, and I decided I needed a new one, especially for the commmute to college daily. So I went to the Apple store and forked out €369 for the newest and “funnest” iPod ever!