Want to invite all your Twitter friends to one event at the click of a button? Twitzu has simplified the process, allowing you to quickly create and publicize events. Fill in the details and it's sent off as a link in a Twitter update, along with a short optional message. Your followers can then RSVP on the Twitzu website.

Twitzu has great potential for organizing public events like blog meets or advertising small gigs, but you won't want to use it to organize a private gathering. One of Twitzu's main drawbacks is the fact that your event is not only broadcast to all your Twitter followers, it's also posted up on the main Twitzu page. With talk of Twitter groups in the making - it would be nice to see the two concepts integrated - allowing you to invite only certain people who follow you. The website is also sorely lacking a privacy option. Another huge drawback is the inability to edit your event once you've submitted it. Don't be fooled by the 'Edit Event' tab. It seems to be there only for show.

Twitzu is far from perfect - and we don't just mean the glaring spelling mistake on the front page - but if it gets enough attention it could turn out to be one of the easiest ways to ensure a large turn out at your next public event.

Way back in the dark ages of 1993, we were introduced to this thing called email. Email in the olden days was not like email now. All the packets traveled uphill no matter where they were going, and usually there was a good three or four feet of snow on the internet backbone. We used these big hulking things called VAX/VMS nodes that were attached to some pretty sweet fourteen inch monochrome VT 100 terminals. There were also these machines that ran something called UNIX, which sounded to us like something that should have been found in the college health center, not the computer lab.

Eons passed, and things changed. Though there were many more email packets flying around, plate tectonics had changed the course of things so that now they traveled downhill, really really fast. The internet backbone became a series of tubes. All the VT 100 terminals banded together and created an archipelago in the South Pacific. And UNIX...

UNIX evolved. Mutated. It trickled down into various UNIX brands and distributions. There were things like BSD UNIX, HP-UX, and AT&T Bell Labs UNIX. There were other branches, too, rogue sprouts on the evolutionary tree: FreeBSD, and OpenBSD. Slightly alien but vaguely reminiscent life forms injected their DNA into the gene pool: Linux, and this weird little UNIX-esque animal called Solaris.

Sun recently let Solaris go open source. OpenSolaris is more a traditional UNIX environment than a Linux type environment, but the appeal of taking a peek at the 2008.05 OpenSolaris release was too great for us to resist. The folks at OpenSolaris knew this, and baked some goodies into the OS that no Linux user could refuse.

We were given a no-strings attached liveCD, so our Linux install would never know we cheated. We had a bash shell, and the GNOME desktop environment, so our eye candy and commands would feel familiar and easy.

Sometimes, though, evolution goes horribly, horribly wrong.

If you're itching to get your hands on Windows Home Server, Ars Technica reports that a number of retailers are ready to ship the new Microsoft OS. But if you're not ready to drop $150+ on an operating system that essentially lets you backup and share files on your home network, it looks like the OS has reportedly been leaked onto the BitTorrent sites.

The folks at Ars Technica took Windows Home Server for a spin and report that it serves it purpose reasonably well. But they also conclude that if you've already got some sort of network attached storage device, you probably don't need a new machine and operating system, especially one that doesn't even integrate with Windows Media Center to let you store and access recorded TV programs on the same machine you use to store all of your other file backups.

On the other hand, it's nice to have a simple, easy to use backup solution for every PC in the house.

You do realize that everything you do these days must have a social element, right? If you're so inclined, you can socially network almost every component of your life: college, work, sports, hobbies -- heck, even dying. So, if that's your thing, you'll be happy to know that one of the last vestiges of solitary activity has given way to social media. That's right, you'll never have to read alone again.

The glossy print publication 944 Magazine, a regional mag that covers the nightlife scene in major markets like Miami, Las Vegas, and San Francisco, has just launched the aptly-named Web site 944Life: Your Clique Here. In a welcome departure from typical one-dimensional sites with nothing but the text of back issues you've already read, this site has social interaction features so readers have a place to meet up and talk about where they're going to, er, meet up.

With trendy events happening in and around its coverage areas faster than you can say "What should I wear?", 944Life lets readers check out videos, news, reviews, and find out where the latest parties are going to be. There's even a section that features the hottest restaurants in town, along with photos from the fah-bulous events they've hosted. Registered members can hob-hob with other users, keep a blog, upload media, and join forums.

Though the site is still officially in beta, it's already very user-friendly and just as slick and glossy as the magazine itself. While we still like to curl up with the classics and read into the wee hours, a socially interactive website for a magazine devoted to cultivating one's social life makes a lot of sense to us.

Yesterday saw the release of Bonjour 1.0.4 for Windows, allowing Windows Vista (and of course XP and 2000/20003) users to enjoy the hassle-free networking and printer sharing that Bonjour offers. There's even a 64-bit version for Windows Vista available too, it that's your OS of choice.

[via MacNN]

Social networking sites have become an increasingly popular way for people to connect professionally but, once you've added someone to your contact list, what then? 8apps is one of the first sites we've seen that answers that question. It goes beyond just connecting people and actually gives them tools to develop whatever brainstorms happen to come up once they get to know each other.

Like other social networking sites, 8apps brings like-minded people together, but then it takes the concept a step further by offering tools to help shape the ideas that take root between members. Wikis offer the same collaborative tools as 8apps but start from the premise that all the users already know each other. 8apps puts the horse before the cart and helps you meet people, then develop a project together.

After completing the very simple sign-up process, find members by searching for groups or individuals in the Handshake section of the site. Map out your big idea in Blueprint, a virtual whiteboard that works a bit like a mind-mapping tool. Next, break down projects and assign tasks with Orchestrate. If your group decides that a face-to-face meeting is in order, use the Pinpoint map and scheduling tool to find your real-world middle ground.

While the four remaining applications are still under wraps, this new site is still useful even though it's technically under development.* It also has an outstanding, beautiful, and intuitive interface that makes navigation easy and painless.

While the world might not need Yet Another Social Networking Site, it does need a way to corral all those brainstorms between members so the ideas have a chance to grow up and become -- who knows? -- Yet Another Social Media Tool. 8apps is just the ticket.

*Note: As we were preparing this post for publication, we learned that the creators of 8apps have just put the site up for sale. Although further development has been temporarily put on hold, the site is still fully functional, and there are still private invites available. Want to know how you can score one? Stay tuned.

Gen Y, a term sometimes used for those 20-35 years old, are old enough to be (some of) our kids but more importantly make up our next generation of clients. This generation, defined more by popular culture than by age, is an Internet-hungry and online-casual bunch. Currently, there are about 76 million of them in the U.S., not a bad market slice.

They communicated first via Instant Message and made the sport popular. After webcams were affordable, dating sites emerged. By the time YouTube opened up the face-to-face world, research as we knew it had changed permanently. Then social sites like MySpace, and Facebook blew onto the virtual landscape. Television is becoming secondary to seeing what you want when you want it (this is the ongoing theme) and BitTorrent (among others) is the way to find preferred media, not TV Guide.

If your business is looking for its next generation of customers, what kind of online presence do you need to attract and keep the techno-oriented Y'ers who spend big bucks online? Although neither exhaustive nor scientific (my sample was everyone I know under 35), here is a list of popular places where young folks come together online. If you market, you should consider these sites.

Download Squad and its cousins – people want to know what's out there as soon as it's launched. DLS not only tells you what's there but also make it easy to find plus they let you know if it's worthwhile. With so much information out there, DLS and its cousin sites offer today's specials so you don't have to bother with the entire menu.

Gmail, Google News Reader, Google Docs – free online services by King Google are the prime haunt of many 20-35 year olds. Make sure you know how they work so when you build apps on your site you try to mimic the look and feel. When they want world news, they often use the links at the top of the pages.

The News Empire – the business-oriented target group seems to enjoy CNN's plethora of sites including cnn.com for news, cnnsi.com for sports, and the new CNN video area. They find news at their local paper's site as well as at the major news sites including The NY Times, WaPo, Google and Yahoo!.

Things Technical – if the users are geeky (a term I use with respect), they're likely to grab the most current news available from sites like Slashdot, Digg, Techmeme, Engadget and Reddit. Never heard of them? Each is a field-leader and they all use a blog-like or RSS-like updating system. Ease of use and consistent uptime can be more important than design. (A site is successful when its name becomes a verb, like, "Google that..." or "My review was slashdotted...")

Sharing Socially – social networking sites are more than just a "what's new" news item. Facebook and MySpace connect this international generation like virtual glue. Many users consider these sites to be their homepages and include links to other sites they want to visit (like Twitter, Google Reader, Pownce, their favorite blogs) right from those pages.

Photo Share – Got a shelf full of quaint photo albums? Today's shelves are online on a Flickr, Picasa or other photo site's servers. With the rapid availability of fast bandwidth, pictures go online instantaneously and can circle the globe in less than a morning. Others can comment and you can share all the photos you upload from your digital camera or more likely from your phone. In the olden days, we taught people how to attach a photo to an email. Today, we read the Flickr feed to see a picture that might interest us.

It's All in the RSS – most everyone who leans toward the technical has an RSS reader, whether it's Google or FeedDemon or others. The younger online group gets the feed for whatever interests them and checks that feed several times a day. It's neater and cleaner than browsing all over the Web and they get what they want when they want it (the ongoing theme) and have time to read it. If you don't yet have an RSS feed, what are you waiting for?

Share, Share, Share – the definition of social sites is sharing. We share not only photos and text but also we expect sharing in return. It's almost as if the Web has come full circle. From the olden days of the early 1990s to the mid-first decade of this millennium, the Web has evolved from open and free (when I started) to pay-as-you-go (when they expected you to pay to get news) and has grown into freely shared spaces that are your own. The mantra of sites is "Twitter/Pownce - Digg - Flickr" for the younger and clued-in audience.

Whether you consider this generation of Internet users to be egocentric and instantaneous gratifiers or open-minded and savvy, the proof of the online pudding is in the feed. Click a few links and see how they are coming to the knowledge that will make them – or keep them – from becoming your future customers.

If your fav site was omitted, please add it in the comments. You'd be surprised how many great sites we find out simply by asking others who are slightly more geeky than we are.

You probably know that you can listen to music or watch movies on your Windows Mobile device. But did you know you don't need to carry around a massive storage card?

Flash memory cards are getting cheaper and cheaper. While a 16MB CompactFlash card used to cost an arm and a leg, now you can pick up 8GB cards for under $100. But why bother when you can access all the media stored on your PC remotely? Let's take a look at a few ways to stream multimedia content from the web or from your home PC or network.

Thinking about expanding your wireless network but aren't exactly sure how to go about it? Using my trusty Linksys WRT54G, a copy of DD-WRT and an AirPort Express, I was able to increase the range of my network, and also bridge my wife's office upstairs with the network in the basement. Here's how you can do it too.

Ingredients:

• 1 Linksys WRT54G running DD-WRT
• 1 Apple AirPort Express
• MAC addresses of both
• 15-20 minutes of your time

For those who don't know, WDS stands for Wireless Distribution System. It's a simple system that allows you to interconnect multiple access points wirelessly. Wikipedia, as always, has more information on the subject.

Before we get started, as noted above, you need to have DD-WRT installed on your Linksys WRT54G, or on any AP/Router that supports it. Have a look at DD-WRT's hardware compatibility list to see if your hardware is supported. If you don't have DD-WRT installed, and are using a WRT54G, see these instructions on my personal blog on how to install DD-WRT. You'll also need to have already configured your AirPort Express.

Microsoft has released an update to its Remote Desktop software, a.k.a. Terminal Services Client. The new version 6.0 contains a number of interesting new features:

• Network Level Authentication
• Server authentication
• Resource redirection
• Terminal Services Gateway (TS Gateway) servers
• TS Remote Programs
• Multiple monitor spanning
• 32-bit color
• Font smoothing

Network Level Authentication allows the user to be authenticated before the server starts up a full-blown Remote Desktop session, thereby saving resources, and "uses remote computer authentication that helps protect users from connecting to remote computers that are set up for malicious purposes," though I'm not entirely sure what that means. Server authentication "verifies that you are connecting to the correct remote computer or server. Resource redirection lets you use Plug and Play devices that support redirection over a Remote Desktop session. TS Gateway support "enables authorized users to connect to remote computers on a corporate network," which means that if you can connect to a remote PC from across the internet over port 443 (SSL), which isn't blocked by most firewalls. TS Remote Programs sounds pretty cool, essentially allowing you to run programs on your local machine that are installed on the remote machine. "The experience," says Microsoft, "is the same as running a program that is installed on the computer." The last three I think are pretty self-explanatory.

Remote Desktop Connection 6.0 is a free download from Microsoft, and doesn't require a WGA check.

Jon Peck wanted a file server for streaming media across his network so he wouldn't need to leave his main PC on 24/7. Rather than buy an expensive preconfigured NAS machine, he did what real men do: He built it himself, in about 45 minutes, for under $80. Built around a cheap refurbished Dell and loaded with Ubuntu Linux, he does all of the machine's administration through web-based interfaces like SWAT and TorrentFlux. Of course, he gives step-by-step instructions on getting the machine set up, which took him less than an hour "from zero to a fully functional system." Very cool.

The Experience Project is a site where you can anonymously share your life experiences in a very web 2.0 (social) way. The site reminds me of 43things, where you list your goals, but the Experience Project is a bit different. You can join groups that align with things you have experienced, have not experienced, or plan to in the future. You can meet up with people (anonymously), share your plans, secrets, dreams, and well, experiences with everyone. In the interest of anonymity, the site will even automatically blur a picture of you as your icon, so you are not recognizable to everyone else. You might find the site interesting or just downright annoying, it is hard to tell. If nothing else, go check out the software this site uses. It is interesting, not to mention the notion of why anyone would ever want to share things like this on the web. Two words: morbid curiosity.

Thanks Arron!

In the next 5-10 years by all estimates we should have a processor capable of 1Tbps throughput, at least according to Intel. The optical networking chip Intel is working on uses laser light as the medium for performing computations, instead of the traditional transistor-based chips. Light represents data, which is processed instead of molecules or electrical signals. I guess you could say that fiber optic technology is quite similar to how this chip works. light moves faster than pretty much anything else we currently have, so it makes a great data carrier. A substance called indium phosphide is one that emits light on a single wavelength when electricity is applied to it, which will generate the light source needed to make this processor work. This chip could pay big dividends in computing, not just in fiber networking systems, but in computing platforms as well. Intel believes they could mass-produce these chips in the next 5-10 years, and they will cheaper and easier to produce. Computing at the speed of light sounds good to me.

Engadget's Will O'Brien has written a great piece called How-To: Run your own network wiring. I think it's fair to call it a pretty quick-and-dirty guide, as some of the commenters are criticizing its ad-hoc nature, but if quick-and-dirty is what you need, this is the guide for you. O'Brien tells you what supplies and equipment you'll need to put together your own custom-length cables and then gives some tips on where to hide them. Sure, you might say this new age of wireless obviates the need for wired networks, but if that's not possible or cost-effective for you, take a look at Will's guide and also the comments, which point out some safety and legal issues you might want to be aware of.

Applied Networking, maker of Hamachi, has announced that it has been acquired by LogMeIn, Inc. Hamachi, a free tool described by Applied Networking as "a program that allows you to arrange multiple computers into their own secure network just as if they were connected by a physical network cable," and is a good match for LogMeIn, Inc., which makes browser-based VPN-like remote administration tools LogMeIn and RemotelyAnywhere. The Hamachi developers supply some more details on the official Hamachi forum, or you can read LogMeIn's press release on the acquisition.