Send Music Via Twitter With TinySong
July 2, 2008
TinySong.com is a unique service for social media users that combines streaming audio, music search and URL-shortening to let you send music via Twitter, text messages and other services.
Here’s how it works:
Do a search at TinySong.com:
View the search results and select the song that you want to send:
When you select the song you want to send, TinySong will provide a short URL, suitable for sending via text messages or Twitter:
Once you share the URL, the recipient can click it and listen to the song in the GrooveShark Lite player:
No install or account is needed.
(Via Podcasting News.)
Best Free Adobe AIR Apps
June 27, 2008
Adobe AIR is Adobe’s entry into the field of widgets. It’s a better idea than just something on your desktop. Developers are able to create a potentially rich experience, and have it run cross-platform. Even though I think the whole Adobe AIR platform is quite ready yet, some of the apps that are available are truly getting there. I found a few of them that I think are pretty good, and I now have on my own computer.
- FotoBooth is an application built for fun where you can quickly snap pictures using your webcam. It offers a dozen different filters to distort your images and also integrates with flickr for one click uploads to your flickr account..
- iSpy uses your web cam to take a quick snap shot and save it to your local disk whenever it senses motion. If there is a level of motion that exceeds the sensitivity level, it will either take a quick snap shot and display on screen or if ‘Save pics to disk’ is checked it will also save a copy to the user’s picture/iSpy directory.
- ReadAIR is an OSX Themed Desktop Client for Mac or Windows.
- PandoraBoy allows you to control your music with global hotkeys or your apple remote. Additionally, it supports growl notifications so that you always know what you’re listening to.
- ShrinkOMatic lets you resize photos easily. You can set size and ratio limits, change the output format, and then drag and drop your pictures.
- WebKut allows you to feed it a URL and you can snapshot it. It will save the page out as a .PDF file with just a couple of clicks of your mouse.
- Clevr is a seriously easy way of creating and sharing panoramic photos. It not only helps you create stunning panoramas, but it also lets you turn them into interactive images that you can move around and navigate.
- CL Desktop is a user friendly way to browse Craigslist. Setup just the right searches to find what your looking for, and save them for instant access anytime you need. CL Desktop is an application that runs on your desktop to bring you a better view of Craigslist postings.
(Via The Chris Pirillo Show.)
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(Via Ian Scott.)
Network Solutions Suddenly Opposed To Domain Hijacking
June 22, 2008
Hypocrisy alert: Domain name registrar Network Solutions, which earlier this year adopted the questionable practice of registering on its own behalf any domain name searches done on its site, today urged the industry to abandon the practice.
Here’s how the scam works: You go to Network Solutions (or virtually any of their competitors) and do a search for a domain name you’d like to buy. If you don’t buy the domain right then, they register the domain anyway, meaning if you try to buy it somewhere else you can’t. You are then forced to buy the domain at Network Solutions.
At any given time, tens of thousands of domains are locked up by registrars in this way. In February, Network Solutions was named in a class action lawsuit over the practice.
Now Network Solutions is now calling the practice ‘abusive’ and proposing a fee to registrars designed to destroy the economic incentive to engage in the practice. Now that everyone’s doing this, it’s far less lucrative for them to continue. Thus the 180 degree change in attitude.
‘If ICANN [the quasi-governmental organization that regulates the domain industry] adopts the anti-tasting provision, Network Solutions will feel safe in discontinuing its service,’ they said.
Update: Network Solutions says I got at least part of the story wrong, since they’ve been talking about this issue for three years. My response: Then why engage in the practice? And will they now voluntarily stop?
(Via TechCrunch.)
Flock 2.0 Beta: Using Firefox 3 to Bring It All Together
June 16, 2008
Bringing it all together. That’s the theme of 2008: How to integrate multiple online accounts, activities, profiles, feeds, etc. into one comprehensive service (which is of course aside from the just as popular Web 2.0 theme of having scalability issues and crashing).
For the past three years Flock has been aggressively pursuing their goal of ‘bringing it all together’ with their unique social Web browser that connects people, lets them share media, and makes it easier for users to blur the lines between multiple online accounts.
Today the service announced that the Flock 2.0 Beta, built on the latest Firefox 3 technology, is finally available for free early trials and test runs. The new service combines its classic enhanced browsing capabilities in conjunction with the latest performance, security, and UI enhancements of Firefox 3.
I must admit that I was not very impressed by Flock’s 1.0 version, but — being a social media blogger and all- hearing the words ‘early trials and test runs’ made me feel as giddy as Robert Scoble at Twitter Prom. I immediately strapped on my investigative suit and proceeded to download Flock 2.0. The first thing I noticed was that it was fast. Flock was never unbearably slow, but I do recall it being somewhat of a ‘thinker’ when it came to switching between its features. And oh there were features. Most are the same as before, like the ability to integrate your Digg, Pownce, and AOL Mail into the ‘profiles’ sidebar. But there were also new features such as the auto-completion in the location bar, the ‘favorites’ and ‘download’ managers, and the improved ‘password manager.’
My Twitter feed updated every five seconds — much faster than Twhirl has lately — and there were dozens of new add-ons that could be downloaded, most notably Evernote’s exclusive beta add-on.
Overall, I was very pleased with Flock the second time around. Its default skin was just as attractive as it has always been (even though it’s unfortunate that there wasn’t a wide selection of different skins — one of Firefox’s popular features).
My favorite features were the ability to open all tabs at once, and the media stream, which compiles different users’ pictures and videos in a horizontal slideshow view. I also liked the ease with which I could share, e-mail, or blog any media I came across in the browser, but the blog editor itself is very plain and underwhelming.
(Via Mashable!.)
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