sharing posts

Filed under: Audio, Utilities, Web services

Pandora finally gets social sharing, via Facebook and Twitter

by Jay Hathaway Oct 28th 2009

There's a lot to love about the Pandora streaming music service. If you put together just the right combination of musical ingredients, you've got the modern-day equivalent of the perfect mixtape. Sending your brilliant Pandora station to a friend or 2 (or 200!) just got easier, with the addition of Facebook and Twitter sharing.

Until now, the only option for sharing your streaming radio stations was email. That feature is still around, including personalized "Station Gifting," which is a bit like a Pandora e-card. Twitter and Facebook sharing work with single songs or whole stations, and they place a link (along with any comments you want to add) into your public feed. Unfortunately, you still can't use these features to share with an individual friend via direct message, so you'll have to stick to email sharing for that.

[via CNET]

Tags: facebook, music, pandora, sharing, streaming, twitter

Filed under: Macintosh, Productivity, Web services, Microsoft

Live Mesh updated for Snow Leopard

by Jay Hathaway Oct 20th 2009

I'll admit that it seems strange to use Microsoft's Live Mesh on a Mac, but with Apple's MobileMe getting spotty reviews, some Mac users prefer to look for alternative ways to sync. Until now, Snow Leopard users who rely on Live Mesh were out of luck, but a new version of the Live Mesh client supports OS X 10.6. If you're still on Leopard, you don't need to update to the new release, but Snow Leopard users will have to reinstall Live Mesh to get it working again.

Remembering that Live Mesh is available on the Mac - and seeing the new iPhone app from another syncing service, Dropbox - got me thinking about whether you can use Live Mesh on an iPhone. It turns out that the answer is yes, although there's unfortunately no app for that, yet. If you're sharing files through Live Mesh, you can get to them on an iPhone via the web interface. Although Apple fans tend to balk at using anything from Microsoft, this might be one case where it's viable.

Tags: live mesh, LiveMesh, mesh, Microsoft, sharing, snow leopard, SnowLeopard, syncing

Filed under: Productivity, Web services, Google

Google Docs now allows folder sharing, batch uploading

by Jay Hathaway Oct 13th 2009

Google Docs has always been a decent solution for collaborating on individual documents, but users have been frustrated for some time by the lack of support for sharing multiple files at once. Google recently heard their demands - delivered via the Google Docs product ideas page - and added folder sharing. Now you can not only set the same sharing permissions for a whole folder full of docs at once, but also upload multiple files simulataneously.

To organize you docs quickly, there's a new "folders" dialogue at the top of your docs screen. You can check items and then click on "folders" to set which folder they're in, even as a batch. Google also brought back an old favorite feature: "Items Not In Folders," because feedback told them that a lot of people used it for drafts or to queue items to work on.

[via CNET]

Tags: folders, google docs, GoogleDocs, sharing

Filed under: Photo, Web services, Social Software

Dropico manages photos across multiple social networks

by Jay Hathaway Oct 7th 2009

If you're sick of uploading the same photos to 10 different sites, you'll love Dropico. It links up with several different social sites, including Facebook, MySpace, Flickr and Photobucket, and lets you upload to all of them, or move existing images between accounts. You can even tweet photos from Twitpic or Yfrog from within Dropico. That's the "pic" part. The "drop" part comes from the site's easy drag n' drop interface.

Dropico supports creating and managing albums in some services, and importing either from your computer or elsewhere on the web. Dropico has an API, so other web apps will be able to take advantage of the service. A toolbar is in the works, too, so you'll be able to more easily save images you find on the web to your photo sharing accounts. Dropico is in private beta right now, with an email waiting list, so sign up now if you want to give it a try.

Tags: dropico, photo, sharing, SocialNetworking

Filed under: Internet, Social Software

Tweetmixx helps you see what's hot on Twitter

by John Burke Sep 23rd 2009

As Twitter becomes more popular, it's become increasingly difficult to stay on top of links, content and stuff you're friends and followers are sharing. Made from the same guys behing Mixx, a Digg-style website that features user submitted content that you can vote on, Tweetmixx is designed to make it much easier to share and view links and content found in tweets.

After logging in with your Twitter username and password, you'll immediately be presented with a cool list of links found in your friends' tweets. See comments on them, view hot trends and even post and share directly from Tweetmixx. You can even specify interests that will help filter stuff you're interested in seeing.

Tags: digg, filter, links, mixx, sharing, trends, tweetmixx, Twitter

Filed under: Yahoo!, Social Software, web 2.0

Delicious gets a new "Fresh" tab and easier sharing

by Jay Hathaway Aug 4th 2009

The popular social bookmarking service Delicious has been stagnating a bit since Yahoo purchased it, inspiring competition from the likes of Pinboard. Yahoo hasn't complete abandoned Delicious, though. An update today adds new search and sharing features and a "Fresh" tab that uses Twitter trends to find the most relevant links on Delicious.

Now, when you search on Delicious, you can specify a time frame to search, as well as sorting by tags. Previews from sites like YouTube, Flickr and Yelp should be showing up next to relevant bookmarks soon. On the sharing front, quick email and Twitter buttons have been added, so you can share in a couple of clicks, right from the link.

Tags: bookmarking, bookmarks, delicious, sharing, yahoo

Filed under: Google, Social Software, web 2.0

Google Reader now 66.6% less antisocial

by Lee Mathews Jul 16th 2009

Those of you who use Google Reader for your RSS fix may have already noticed the newly-added following and liking features.

There's a new box in Reader's sidebar aptly called 'People you follow.' Using the search feature, you can hunt for specific names or terms in Google Profiles and follow them to view news items they like. As with your subscriptions, Reader will update counts next to each user when new items are liked.

When sifting through your feeds, you'll now see how many people liked a particular item. Click the count, and you'll see their names. Hover over a name to view a snippet of their Google Profile or click to the full version, to view their location on a map, or to follow him or her.

Other blogs have taken issue with the like feature, saying it adds confusion. Personally, I'm not sure where the confusion comes from. I use stars in Reader to tag items I want to revisit later or blog about - not to indicate whether or not I like a piece. If I want to do that, well, I'll click like instead. Feel free to share your thoughts on this in the comments!

Why the 66% in the title? The last of the three big additions is decidedly less social. Google has added a new option to Reader's existing sharing features, allowing you to choose only certain groups of people (from your Google Contacts) to view and comment on your shared items.

Tags: google-reader, news, rss, sharing, social

Filed under: Photo, Social Software, web 2.0

Flickr2Twitter: Twitpic killer?

by Jay Hathaway Jul 5th 2009

Flickr has launched its own service - Flickr2Twitter - for sending images to Twitter, and at first glance, it looks like it could compete head-on with existing Twitter photo services like Twitpic and Yfrog. Flickr's system is a bit different than the others, though, and doesn't yet have application support from a major Twitter client. Taking that into consideration, I think there's a good case that these apps will be able to coexist, with Flickr2Twitter dominating amongst existing Flickr users, and Twitpic or Yfrog favored by more casual photographers.

Everyone knows Flickr is a big player in the online photo game, but not everyone has a Flickr account or wants to sign up for one. While existing Flickr users will probably adopt Flickr2Twitter, folks who don't want to sign up can use Twitpic with their existing Twitter logins. Flickr2Twitter also handles uploads via email, so you need to send your photos to your account's email address to post them (the text of the tweet goes in the subject line). For mobile users, this works, but it's not as easy as Twitpic-ing or Yfrogging from your Twitter client, and some of the most popular clients support those services. From the desktop, Flickr2Twitter has the advantage: you can Twitter a Flickr photo very quickly by clicking the "blog this" button that you've probably already noticed on your photo pages.

Tags: flickr, photo, sharing, twitpic, twitter, yfrog

Filed under: Social Software, web 2.0

Digg gets rid of shouts, turns to Facebook and Twitter

by Jay Hathaway May 27th 2009

In a video Town Hall last week, the folks at Digg announced they were going to take a new approach to sharing Digg stories. That change started with the removal of the "shout" feature, used to promote your Digg posts to friends on the site. Instead of shouts, Digg now has sharing options including email, Twitter and Facebook.

I see a few likely effects of this. First, Digg will be able to draw in more traffic from these other popular social sites, rather than just promoting stories to people who are already active Diggers. Second, becoming a power user won't be as much a matter of collecting contacts on Digg. This might go a long way toward making it a more Internet-wide enterprise, and spreading the power around on Digg. I think the main effect will come from adding Twitter and Facebook links, not from removing shouts, which weren't the most effective tool on the site to begin with.

[via Appscout]

Tags: digg, facebook, sharing, shout, twitter

Filed under: Blogging, Social Software

AmpliFeeder: open source lifestreaming

by Jay Hathaway May 27th 2009

If you use a lot of social networking sites, and different groups of your friends are scattered across all of them, it might be time to start a lifestream. AmpliFeeder is an open source platform that pulls in everything you share on other social sites and displays it in one convenient location. It works with tons of sites, including Twitter, Delicious, Upcoming, Last.fm and Facebook.

AmpliFeeder also has a handful of themes to choose from, and supports custom themes using XHTML and CSS. There are no hosted accounts, so you'll have to find a place to put it, but it's extremely easy to set up, once installed. Check out the video walkthrough on the documentation page for a step-by-step guide to getting AmpliFeeder up and running. If you need a solid, easy-to-use lifestreaming platform, this might be worth a look.

Tags: amplifeeder, delicious, facebook, lifestreaming, sharing, social-networking, twitter

Filed under: Web services, Social Software

Share files via Twitter with FileTwt

by Jay Hathaway May 26th 2009

If you've used a file-sharing service that lets you upload files and send the link to a friend via email, you might appreciate FileTwt. It's the same idea, but you pass the link along via a tweet or a direct message on Twitter.

In keeping with Twitter's spirit of brevity -- or maybe with FileTwt's inevitable bandwidth costs -- the max file upload is currently only 20mb. FileTwt is a brilliant idea for a couple of reasons, though.

Twitter can be a good broadcast and promotion mechanism, and sometimes you want to share a new design or a demo of some music you recorded with everyone who follows you on Twitter. Or maybe you have a friend who needs a file, and Twitter is the only way you two are connected. Tweeting can definitely be faster than sending email.

Tags: file-sharing, filetwt, sharing, storage, twitter, upload

Filed under: Fun, Games, Social Software, web 2.0, Web

Embed Flash games on your site with Heyzap

by Jay Hathaway May 25th 2009

It's easy to add videos, music and images from around the Internet to your website, but what about games? Heyzap is a way to place any of over 12,000 casual Flash games on your website. It's as simple as copying and pasting a widget code .

Heyzap bills itself as a way to engage with your audience and get them to spend more time on your site. This has an effect on advertising revenue for big players, but I'm not sure it's the most appealing thing about Heyzap when you're just a little guy. I think this could turn into something like the YouTube of games -- instead of sending friends a link to the games you like, just post them right on your blog.

Tags: embed, flash, games, heyzap, sharing

Filed under: Utilities, Features, Web services, Lists

A big list of ways to make Tiny URLs

by Jay Hathaway May 19th 2009

With all the URL shortening sites that have been popping up lately -- and even services that let you make your own -- I thought it would be a good idea to take a look back at the link-shrinkers we've covered in the past here at Download Squad. Some of them are legitimately useful, while some of them are complete novelties that you'd only break out as a joke. You'll also have to forgive some of our references to getting Rickrolled -- it was a legitimate concern back then! So, without further ado, here's a big list of ways to create very small URLs:

NSFW.in is designed for sharing links that are Not Safe For Work. Its unique feature is a warning page, in case the person you're sharing your link with doesn't want to see it after all.

Bit.ly is still one of the best link shorteners around. It scores points for tracking the traffic to your shortened link, and letting you see if anyone else has made a bit.ly link to the same URL.

U.nu is a fairly recent entry with a super-short base URL, and the added bonus of generating links that are easy to read out loud to someone or type out from scratch.

Tags: link-sharing, links, service, sharing, shorturl, tinyurl, truncator, url-shortener, web

Filed under: Video, Social Software

Post YouTube videos to Twitter with YouTubeTweeter

by Jay Hathaway Apr 27th 2009

There are lots of services for sharing photos and music over Twitter, but sharing YouTube videos has lagged behind a bit. Sure, you could just link someone to YouTube, but it's not the prettiest site in the world by any stretch of the imagination. Where's TwitPic for embedded videos? A new site called YouTubeTweeter gets pretty close.

Put in your username and a YouTube link, and YouTubeTweeter generates a short url and a button to post it to Twitter. The video pops up in a nice-looking overlay on a copy of your Twitter page, so it's obvious who's sharing the video. It also shows you how many people have viewed your video. Closing the video takes the user to your Twitter page, which is probably better than having them land on YouTube. It's not a perfect solution - it would be nice if it worked with embed codes from other video sites, especially - but it's a step in the right direction.

Tags: sharing, twitter, video, youtube, youtubetweeter

Filed under: P2P, Social Software

Facebook now blocking torrent links from The Pirate Bay

by Jay Hathaway Apr 8th 2009

When I last wrote about the Pirate Bay's new feature that enabled sharing torrents through Facebook, Facebook hadn't yet responded or acted to stop the Pirate Bay from using the social network as a link repository. Now they have. Facebook is blocking incoming links from The Pirate Bay, according to TorrentFreak.

Not only can you no longer use the "Share on Facebook" buttons located on Pirate Bay torrent pages, but you can't even manually share a Pirate Bay URL. Facebook says that they won't allow "Share on Facebook" buttons on any site that contains infringing content, even if there's legitimate content mixed in. Whatever small minority of artists were using Pirate Bay to push legal torrents won't have Facebook's help in doing it. As for the blanket measure of blocking all TPB links, even the ones manually entered by Facebook users, Facebook is doing it to punish the torrent site for failing to remove its Facebook buttons.

Tags: blocked, facebook, pirate-bay, sharing, torrent

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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