Download Squadhttp://www.downloadsquad.comDownload Squadhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/media/feedlogo.gifDownload Squadhttp://www.downloadsquad.comen-usCopyright 2008 Blogsmith, LLC. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Flock 2 beta 2 makes Firefox 3 more socialhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/18/flock-2-beta-2-makes-firefox-3-more-social/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/18/flock-2-beta-2-makes-firefox-3-more-social/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/18/flock-2-beta-2-makes-firefox-3-more-social/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Flock 2 beta 2
Flock has released a second public beta of Flock 2, a web browser based on Firefox 3. What sets Flock apart from Firefox is the integration with a ton of social networking services including Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Digg, del.icio.us, YouTube, PhotoBucket, and more. There's a blog editor for updating your web site from the browser, and a media bar for viewing images and videos shared by your friends without navigating away from your current web page.

Flock has always been based on Firefox, but what sets Flock 2 beta apart from Flock 1.x is that the beta version is built on Firefox 3. That means you get a redesigned location bar, a new bookmark manager, and a new rendering engine that helps most web pages load faster.

The Flock team has addressed over 175 bugs that were found in the first beta of Flock 2. Aside from bug fixes, there aren't many new features in Flock 2 beta 2. But the browser is based on Firefox 3.01, which means it also includes some important security updates. So if you're using Flock 2 beta 1, we'd recommend upgrading.

[via Mozilla Links]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>firefox-3firefox-3.01flockflock-2flock-2-beta-2Brad Linder2008-07-18T19:00:00+00:00YouTorrent is back, and it's bringing 67k legal torrents with ithttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/18/youtorrent-is-back-and-its-bringing-67k-legal-torrents-with-it/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/18/youtorrent-is-back-and-its-bringing-67k-legal-torrents-with-it/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/18/youtorrent-is-back-and-its-bringing-67k-legal-torrents-with-it/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Attention, law-abiding citizens! If you believe in BitTorrent as a means of distribution for large files, but you're concerned about the claims of piracy that are often associated with it, you should take a look at YouTorrent. Despite having to shut down for a while because of legal issues, YouTorrent is back in operation, with a reported 67,170 torrents that are all legal to share.

YouTorrent is a meta-search that can find verified torrents across a number of popular torrent sites, including Jamendo, Vuze, BitTorrent, Legaltorrents, Legittorrents, Gameupdates, Wortharchiving, BT.etree and Mininova's featured torrents section. With all those sites combined, you can use YouTorrent to search over 6TB of data. This is a very good thing for the torrent community in general, as it shows how widely BitTorrent is used for non-piracy purposes.

[via TorrentFreak]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>bittorrentlegal torrentsLegalTorrentstorrenttorrent searchTorrentSearchYouTorrentsJay Hathaway2008-07-18T09:00:00+00:00VLC media player 0.9.0 pre-release adds Last.fm support and morehttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/17/vlc-media-player-0-9-0-pre-release-adds-last-fm-support-and-more/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/17/vlc-media-player-0-9-0-pre-release-adds-last-fm-support-and-more/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/17/vlc-media-player-0-9-0-pre-release-adds-last-fm-support-and-more/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , ,

VLC last.fm
The newest version of the VLC media player isn't ready for the streets yet, but if you're they type who doesn't mind risking your precious computer for the sake of satisfying a primal curiosity for experimental software, the pre-release of VLC 0.9.0 is now available for both Windows and Mac. Unfortunately, anybody with a Windows 98/ME or OS X 10.3.9 machine is out luck since such technology is no longer socially acceptable as those operating systems are no longer supported.

It now supports Last.fm (AKA Audioscrobbler) straight out of the box disk image, so it'll update your Last.fm account as you play music through VLC. To enable Last.fm support in the 0.9.0 release, enter your username in the preferences pane under Audioscrobber, but don't forget to visit Control interfaces to check the box labeled "Submission of played songs to Last.fm."

Other changes also include better tag support, more subtitle support, improved mouse gestures, album art support, Shoutcast TV listings, and a lot more that we don't want to bore you with, but you're more than welcome to check out the whole list on the VLC forums.

[via CyberNet]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>last.fmmediamusicplayervlcDanny Mendez2008-07-17T18:00:00+00:0010 + tools to pimp out your Friendfeedhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/17/10-tools-to-pimp-out-your-friendfeed/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/17/10-tools-to-pimp-out-your-friendfeed/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/17/10-tools-to-pimp-out-your-friendfeed/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Ducks
We're big fans of FriendFeed, the social network aggregator that helps you keep track of your friends' activities across different platforms like Twitter, LastFM, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook and about 1,000 36 others. If you're a fan or if you're just getting started, below are 10 tools to help you experience it just the way you like, after the jump.

Continue reading 10 + tools to pimp out your Friendfeed

Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>adobe airadobe air apps for friend feedadobe apps for friendfeedAdobeAirAdobeAirAppsForFriendFeedAdobeAppsForFriendfeedalertthingyBetter FF subscribed to meBetter FriendFeed subscribed to meBetterFfSubscribedToMeBetterFriendfeedSubscribedToMefeedalizrFF to GoFfToGoFilter FriendFeed by ServiceFilterFriendfeedByServiceFriend FeedFriendFeedFriendFeed Filters Friends and GroupsFriendFeed Google ReaderFriendFeed ProfileFriendFeed to GoFriendFeed Twitter ClientFriendfeedFiltersFriendsAndGroupsFriendfeedGoogleReaderFriendfeedProfileFriendfeedToGoFriendfeedTwitterClientGreasemonkeyGreasemonkey scripts for FriendFeedGreasemonkeyScriptsForFriendfeedMail 2 FFMail to FriendFeedMail2FfMailToFriendfeedPostytipsToolstricks for FriendFeedtweet-thistwhirlDolores Parker2008-07-17T11:00:00+00:00WordPress 2.6 releasedhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/15/wordpress-2-6-released/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/15/wordpress-2-6-released/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/15/wordpress-2-6-released/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Only a few months after its last major release, the WordPress crew has just unleashed WordPress 2.6 into the wild. While the changes with this update aren't as visually sweeping as those ushered in with 2.5, but they do add some great new options and optimizations. WordPress encourages users to upgrade, as the old 2.5 branch will no-longer be maintained, and they have outlined the upgrade process here or you can use the fantastic automatic-update plugin.

We've been playing around with 2.6 on our local installs since the first beta was released, and we think this is a very, very solid release.

The WordPress team posted video showing off some of the new features:



Read on for our take on the new WordPress!

Continue reading WordPress 2.6 released

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>bloggingblogging platformsblogging toolsBloggingPlatformsBloggingToolsgoogle gearsGoogleGearswordpresswordpress 2.6Wordpress2.6xml-rpcChristina Warren2008-07-15T14:00:00+00:00Twitter buys Summize, launches Twitter Searchhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/15/twitter-buys-summize-launches-twitter-search/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/15/twitter-buys-summize-launches-twitter-search/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/15/twitter-buys-summize-launches-twitter-search/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Twitter Search
As expected, Twitter has purchased Summize, a search engine designed for the micro-blogging service. The pairing seems pretty obvious. While Twitter may have started as a means of individual expression, the service has quickly grown into a repository of news and opinions.

Want to know what people think of the latest blockbuster movie? Just enter the title into Summize and you'll get a whole slew of results. Want to see what people are saying about a politician? Summize can help. The search engine can also help you find other Twitter users who share your interests, making it easy to expand your own social network.

Twitter has launched a new site that looks and works pretty much exactly like Summize, at search.twitter.com. The only difference is that the new site says Twitter and not Summize. If you visit Summize.com, you'll automatically be taken to the new site.

Terms of the deal have not been made public, but Silicon Alley Insider reports that Twitter paid $15 million for Summize. It might have made more sense for the company to develop its own search engine in-house. But since somebody's already done the work, and since Twitter is sitting on a pile of venture capital, an acquisition was probably the easiest way to go.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>searchsummizetweet-thistwitterBrad Linder2008-07-15T13:30:00+00:00Preview the new Facebook profile pagehttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/14/preview-the-new-facebok-profile-page/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/14/preview-the-new-facebok-profile-page/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/14/preview-the-new-facebok-profile-page/#commentsFiled under: ,

Facebook new profiles
Facebook will soon be rolling out a new site design that, among other things, will change the way your profile looks. But you can check it out today by logging into your account and then visiting www.new.facebook.com.

One of the most prominent new features will be an emphasis on the mini-feed. In fact, it might be safer to start calling it a news feed, since it's not so mini-anymore. When you first view a profile, what you'll see is a list of recent activity on that account.

You can also click on tabs for Info, Photos, or Boxes. Info brings up your contact information, group membership, and other info. Boxes shows all the Facebook apps that are currently littering your main profile page. And we're going to let you figure out for yourself what shows up in the Photos tab.

[via Mashable]

Update: Facebook seems to have disabled the www.new.facebook.com page sometime in the last few hours. But trust us, it looks something like the image above!
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>facebookprofileBrad Linder2008-07-14T17:00:00+00:00Posty: Adobe AIR client for Twitter, FriendFeed, Pownce, Jaiku, Tumblrhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/14/posty-adobe-air-client-for-twitter-friendfeed-pownce-jaiku/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/14/posty-adobe-air-client-for-twitter-friendfeed-pownce-jaiku/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/14/posty-adobe-air-client-for-twitter-friendfeed-pownce-jaiku/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Posty
There's no shortage of desktop clients for Twitter and FriendFeed. But Posty goes a few steps beyond popular clients like Twhirl and Alert Thingy by adding support for Jaiku and Tumblr as well as Pownce.

Posty's main window features a list of supported services with check boxes next to each. Just enter a status update and select the networks you want to send the update out to, and you can post simultaneously to all 5 places. You can also select the individual tab for each service to see recent updates from your contacts or from the public timelines if they're available. You can also respond to comments or send direct messages directly from Posty.

One of the only complaints we had with Posty is that while the window is resizable, it starts out at 550 pixels wide and there's no way to make it smaller. Bigger, yes. But smaller? Not so much. So it takes up a fair bit of screne real estate.

Like most applications built on Adobe AIR, Posty is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

[via Sarah in Tampa]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>adobe-airalert-thingyfriendfeedjaikupowncetumblrtweet-thistwhirltwitterBrad Linder2008-07-14T09:00:00+00:00iPhone App Review: iPhone port of AIM is close, but not quite therehttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/13/iphone-app-review-iphone-port-of-aim-is-close-but-not-quite-th/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/13/iphone-app-review-iphone-port-of-aim-is-close-but-not-quite-th/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/13/iphone-app-review-iphone-port-of-aim-is-close-but-not-quite-th/#commentsFiled under: , ,

One of the most striking things about the first crop of iPhone apps is the divide between those that work with the phone's user interface, and those that either don't take advantage of the phone or ignore the design specs altogether. The AOL Instant Messenger app for iPhone scores points in some UI areas, but could be more intuitive and feel more like an iPhone app in others.

We've got no complaints about the look of AIM, but there are some places where it doesn't feel right. For example, we were really hoping for a horizontal mode in this app, to take advantage of the wider keyboard. Groups are supported, but you can only view them one at a time, which makes them much less useful than on desktop versions of AIM. While a mobile AIM app like this is a dream we've had since high school, we favor the more intuitive Meebo mobile web app. It supports mutliple chat clients, too ... can we get an app store version of that?

Oh, and here's a tip, because we've seen a lot of people confused by this: to change your screenname, you have to go to your iPhone Settings. It's not in the AIM app itself.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>AIMAOL Instant MessengerAolInstantMessengerapp storeAppStorechatiPhoneiphone applicationsiphone appsIphoneApplicationsIphoneAppsJay Hathaway2008-07-13T12:00:00+00:00See your del.icio.us bookmarks in a new wayhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/13/see-your-del-icio-us-bookmarks-in-a-new-way/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/13/see-your-del-icio-us-bookmarks-in-a-new-way/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/13/see-your-del-icio-us-bookmarks-in-a-new-way/#commentsFiled under: ,

Favthumbs takes a visual approach to your del.icio.us bookmarks. Instead of the usual text based links found on the Del.icio.us web site, Favthumbs displays image thumbnails of your bookmarks giving them a Web 2.0 look and feel.

No setup is required to use Favthumbs, simply enter in your del.icio.us user name and Favthumbs will generate thumbnails of all your bookmarks in either a grid or carousel (think cover flow) layout. You can further narrow down your bookmarks by clicking on your tags to the right of the screen.

We found that it took a bit longer to display our bookmarks on Favthumbs than using del.icio.us directly. This delay may be the result of Favthumbs fetching the images. But if thumbnails are your thing then you might want to give Favthumbs a try.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>bookmarksdel.icio.usweb2.0Joey Celis2008-07-13T10:00:00+00:00iPhone App Review: Twitterrific is even better than the desktop versionhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/12/iphone-app-review-twitterrific-is-even-better-than-the-desktop/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/12/iphone-app-review-twitterrific-is-even-better-than-the-desktop/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/12/iphone-app-review-twitterrific-is-even-better-than-the-desktop/#commentsFiled under: ,

Sometimes Download Squad has to agree to disagree about a new app, and this is one of those times. Although some on the team have knocked the iPhone version of Twitterrific, I actually like it better than its big brother on the desktop. What can the iPhone version do that the desktop version can't? Well, for one, it can pop Twitter open within the app - sometimes you want to scope someone's page (to see what a friend was replying to, for example). I haven't seen another iPhone app that uses the same trick to browse web pages without quitting and switching to Safari.

Just like the browser trick, the rest of the UI is elegant. Tweets look great and are easy to read - the premium version lets you switch to a lighter theme that also looks good, if that's up your alley. @reply links are clickable, and short profiles are viewable without opening a webpage at all. I'll grant that there seem to be some issues with icon caching - when a tweet goes off-screen, the icon has to be reloaded when you scroll back to it -- but I'm not sure if that's an iPhone issue or a Twitterrific one. Throw in the ability to update your location with the iPhone's built in location services, and this is an app that uses the platform to its fullest.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>IconfactoryiPhoneiPhone applicationsiPhone appsIphoneApplicationsIphoneAppsTwitterTwitterrificJay Hathaway2008-07-12T16:00:00+00:00iPhone App Review: Twitterrific exercises your EDGE connection and your patiencehttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/12/iphone-app-review-twitterrific-exercises-your-edge-connection-a/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/12/iphone-app-review-twitterrific-exercises-your-edge-connection-a/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/12/iphone-app-review-twitterrific-exercises-your-edge-connection-a/#commentsFiled under: , ,

TwitterificSlick UI seems to be the norm for most 'big name' iPhone applications on the AppStore. Twitterrific easily gets the top spot in terms of having attractive UI and navigation. However, UI and usability are not synonymous. When I use my phone, I want to accomplish what I want to do quickly and easily. Unfortunately Twitterrific falls short in a few area which makes it one of the most frustrating apps to use on the iPhone.

Until recently, the only way for developers to test an iPhone application was to use the simulator. While it does a great job in allowing developers to see and interact with the app as they develop it, it doesn't show how the app performs in real-life situation.

There are two major differences between the simulator and the real iPhone that are at play here. One is the computer speed and the other internet connection speed. Even the slowest MacBook Air runs faster than the iPhone and thus any performance issue would be masked. Likewise with internet connection, there is no straightforward way to simulate the speed and latency of a EDGE connection and therefore any deficiency of the code in the app would not be exposed until the developers try it out on the real iPhone with spotty EDGE connection.

Twitterrific suffers from both of these problems. The scrolling performance of the message list is so jerky and slow that initially I thought there was something wrong with my iPhone. As I waited patiently for the list to scroll up and down, I also noticed that Twitterrific loads and re-loads every single user picture, even if it has previously been loaded. I stared at my iPhone in dis-belief because I could not comprehend how any sane developers would be as inefficient as that. My hunch that the reloading issue is tied to connection speed was confirmed last night when I got home and connected to the net via wi-fi. Both scrolling and picture reloading sped up because of the much faster connection I have at home.

Continue reading iPhone App Review: Twitterrific exercises your EDGE connection and your patience

Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>appstoreedgefacebookiphoneiphone2.0NetnewswiretwitterrificAlex Hung2008-07-12T15:00:00+00:00Podcasting site Odeo relaunches, now with more videohttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/11/podcasting-site-odeo-relaunches-now-with-more-video/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/11/podcasting-site-odeo-relaunches-now-with-more-video/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/11/podcasting-site-odeo-relaunches-now-with-more-video/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Odeo 2.0
After spending a few months in private beta, Odeo has launched a new version of its podcast aggregation service. OK, actually it looks like the new version of the site launched a few weeks ago, but we just noticed it, thanks to a short writeup over at TechCrunch. The updated site features a sleek new design and video. Lots and lots of video.

Odeo now has videos from about half a million different partners, including major content partners like Blip.tv and Revision3. There's also an improved Flash player for watching videos or listening to audio on the site. At its heart, Odeo is still a podcast aggregation site, which means that there are download links for most audio and videos. Because while you can spend all day watching videos online, sometimes you want to download them and take them with you on your portable media player.

Users can also create profile pages, create playlists, rate podcasts, and share content using email links or embed code. The developers are also working on an improved version of Odeo Studio, a utility that lets users record or upload podcasts using a web browser.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>odeopodcastingpodcastsvideoBrad Linder2008-07-11T16:00:00+00:00Meebone beta brings Meebo to your desktophttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/11/meebone-beta-brings-meebo-to-your-desktop/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/11/meebone-beta-brings-meebo-to-your-desktop/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/11/meebone-beta-brings-meebo-to-your-desktop/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , ,

meebone
It may seem illogical to tie Meebo to a desktop app, but that's exactly what's going on here. Meebone uses Adobe AIR to bring Meebo's services to your desktop through a dedicated app, but it's still in beta. So if you're down to try it, keep in mind that you'll probably encounter some problems... just like we did.

When attempting to login to AIM, Meebone was confused by a space in one of our user names. Other IM clients and services -- even Meebo itself -- aren't usually bothered by spaces. But that was our only major issue with the AIR-based app. And we're hoping it will be fixed before Meebone graduates from beta.

We tested the app with Google Talk and AIM accounts. Each logged-in successfully, brought up buddy lists, etc, etc. In other words, it introduced a basic Meebo set-up to our desktop, and we liked it. Just barely, but we did like it even though it sort of defeats the purpose of Meebo itself.

[via Adobe Air Marketplace]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>adobeAIRdesktopIMinstant messageInstantMessageMeeboMeeboneDanny Mendez2008-07-11T11:00:00+00:00Twitscoop: Real-time tag cloud, search engine for Twitterhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/10/twitscoop-real-time-tag-cloud-search-engine-for-twitter/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/10/twitscoop-real-time-tag-cloud-search-engine-for-twitter/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/10/twitscoop-real-time-tag-cloud-search-engine-for-twitter/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Want to know what people are talking about on Twitter without actually bothering to go to Twitter? Check out a Twitter-focused search engine. Summize and Twitscoop can both help you answer questions like "does the new Will Smith movie stink?" or "is Nancy Pelosi really trying to ban Twitter from Congress?" But this week Twitscoop rolled out a nifty new feature that makes it even easier to see what people are talking about without typing anything at all in the search box: a tag cloud that's updated in real-time.

The video above should give you an idea of what the tag cloud looks like, but the video capture software slowed our computer down a bit, so imagine the whole thing sped up a bit. As more and more Twitter users enter keywords in their messages, the tag cloud is updated.

Twitscoop's tag cloud should make for interesting reading during a major news event like a presidential debate. But even on slower news days, Twitscoop provides an overview of the conversations taking place among Twitter users. Sure, they're probably not representative of the public at large, but they're certainly representative of something... early adopters maybe?

[via ReadWriteWeb]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>tag-cloudtwitscooptwitterBrad Linder2008-07-10T18:00:00+00:00PlanetEye: One stop travel plannerhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/10/planeteye-one-stop-travel-planner/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/10/planeteye-one-stop-travel-planner/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/10/planeteye-one-stop-travel-planner/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

PlanetEye
PlanetEye is a new travel site that uses Microsoft technology and partnerships with third party services like OpenTable and Travelocity to provide a ton of information about in one place. Just enter a destination and PlanetEye will bring up a map with a bunch of dots representing points of interest. Click on a dot to see shared pictures from that location.

You can also click on the hotels, restaurants, or attractions buttons in the sidebar to switch from the picture view to something a bit more useful. Or you can turn off the map and click on the City Guide to bring up a list of places to eat, sleep, and visit.

If you've registered for a free account, you can save information you find on the site to a "travel pack" which you can share with other users or just use as a tool for planning your own vacation.

[via AppScout]
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>planeteyetravelBrad Linder2008-07-10T16:00:00+00:00Guilty conscious? It's ok i4Giveu.http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/10/guilty-conscious-its-ok-i4giveu/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/10/guilty-conscious-its-ok-i4giveu/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/10/guilty-conscious-its-ok-i4giveu/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Ever did something that you wish you could take back? Maybe you snuck out of the convenience store without paying for that pack of gum or never returned that past due library book. Whatever the case maybe, why not voice it to the world and get it off your chest with i4Giveu.

i4Giveu is not just a sounding board, its members judge your confessions, rate them and ultimately decide if your confession is worthy of forgiveness. Of course, you too can dish out a bowl of moral soup if you're feeling a bit high and mighty.

Oh, Internet... is there anything you can't do?

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>funsocialweb2.0Joey Celis2008-07-10T14:00:00+00:00Waste more time on Twitter with Twitscoophttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/09/waste-more-time-on-twitter-with-twitscoop/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/09/waste-more-time-on-twitter-with-twitscoop/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/09/waste-more-time-on-twitter-with-twitscoop/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Twitter is a vast network of individuals posting about all sorts of different things. Take for instance this very second, members are posting about cupcakes, the military, Ferrari, mobileme, the Olympics and much more. But these topics change so quickly you would be mad if you tried to keep up with them yourself. Thankfully, Twitscoop has automated this process so that you can continue to sit in front of your computer staring endlessly at other people conversation.

Twitscoop works by monitoring all the publicly available tweets out there and measures the frequency of the words used. The more mentions of a subject the more popular it must be.

Twitscoop then places them in alphabetical order in a Tag Cloud, the more popular the word the larger it is compared to the rest in the cloud. Mouse over the tag to find out who is talking about what, click on the tag and it will take you to a graph that will display the frequency of the topic along with the users. With all of this information available, you'll be one well informed Twitter!

In our time with using the site we only had one gripe with it, the lack to sort the cloud via the size of the tag. This is only a minor complaint really but something that should be added for those of us out there that like a little order in our lives.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>microbloggingsocialnetworkingtwitterJoey Celis2008-07-09T16:00:00+00:00Simple but powerful Drivepricing helps calculate gas costshttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/09/simple-but-powerful-drivepricing-helps-calculate-gas-costs/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/09/simple-but-powerful-drivepricing-helps-calculate-gas-costs/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/09/simple-but-powerful-drivepricing-helps-calculate-gas-costs/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Drive PricingSometimes the best web services are the simplest ones. Drivepricing lets you calculate the cost of gas for your road trip.

With gas prices so high its nice to be able to know how much to put in the piggy bank to save up for the trips you have coming up this summer.

So when you're going to visit grandma in Albany from Philly, you can drop your gas mileage in there and get an estimated cost of what you're going to have to beg her for so you can get home.

Even if you don't know your gas mileage they have a link to FuelEconomy.gov for you. Drop your zipcode in there, start address, end address, the type of gas you use (which is a great feature) and whether its a round trip or not.

After a few seconds of loading, booya there you have it. Price per gallon and cost for trip.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>cardrivepricinggaspricesDrew Olanoff2008-07-09T12:00:00+00:00Google Lively: a 3D social networking/chat tool that nobody asked forhttp://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/09/google-lively-a-3d-social-networking-chat-tool-that-nobody-aske/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/09/google-lively-a-3d-social-networking-chat-tool-that-nobody-aske/http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/07/09/google-lively-a-3d-social-networking-chat-tool-that-nobody-aske/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Lively
If you've ever thought it would be a good idea to embed a chat widget on your web site, Google has another proposition for you: Why stop there? Why not embed a 3D environment, let users create avatars, decorate a room, and chat with one another? The company has taken the wraps off of Lively, a 3D social networking/chat service that does just that. You can create or join Lively rooms through Lively.com or you can embed rooms on any site using a small snippet of HTML code.

We got our first clue that Google was up to something in the social networking/virtual world space last year when a student at Arizona State University snapped a screenshot of the signup page for a top secret Google project. At the time we guessed that Google was building a Second Life competitor. But since it's a web-based service, it looks like Lively is more of an IMVU competitor. That should come as no surprise, since as VentureBeat points out, one of the founders of IMVU now works for Google.

Continue reading Google Lively: a 3D social networking/chat tool that nobody asked for

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
]]>avatarimvulivelysecond-lifeBrad Linder2008-07-09T08:30:00+00:00