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I’ve been intrigued by the whole URL shortener explosion. Every man and his network has a shortener these days . Although they’ve been around for years (tinyurl for example), the reason for the rise in popularity is undoubtedly Twitter with its need for brevity. So much so that some are getting funding in the millions (see my post on bit.ly a few weeks back for example). What if Twitter changed? But...

I’m predicting that Protected Updates are going to be the next big Twitter trend. Why? Because the mad rush for maximum followers has run its course. And people are now realising that having thousands (or even millions) of followers is next to useless (except of course for the psychological reasons). There’s so much noise these days. Instead of quantity of followers, people will want to build a quality...

I really like the custom tags idea that Microsoft is enabling via their Microsoft Tag technology. The idea is that you can take the same concept as the original Microsoft Tags and overlay them on pictures. You can also replace the triangles with dots. The result is a whole new set of marketing opportunities for your brand as you incorporate a tag into a picture or logo. Time to get those creative juices...

In the race to drum up a following on Twitter, people are using all kinds of silly tactics. The latest one I’m seeing is the fake #followfriday thank you tweets. Basically you send an @reply to a bunch of people (that probably don’t even follow you) thanking them for recommending you as part of the #followfriday meme. But the thing is they don’t have a clue who you are, and they certainly didn’t...

I initially missed this story last week about recent research that found that those who download music illegally are also 10 times more likely to pay for songs than those who don’t. Thankfully TorrentFreak pointed me to it. The research findings are welcome news I’m sure to all modern day pirates , and for me also (as I get closer to succumbing to piracy). TorrentFreak attempts to explain why this...

For those interested in what Outlook 2010 is shaping up to look like, here’s a few screenshots from the Microsoft PressPass Image Gallery. You may have read our post on Exchange 2010 a few days back. Whilst we were mostly critical of the increasing reliance on email, we also made mention of some of the good things coming that will help with managing your ‘corporate life’ in Exchange (and delivered...

I’m getting sick of all the stories that people are writing about this so-called 60% quit rate with Twitter. It’s hit all the news sites by now, and is gaining widespread acceptance. The problem though is that it is unclear what it is based on. Here’s the grab from the Nielsen blog that reported the ‘findings’: Currently, more than 60 percent of U.S. Twitter users fail to return the following...

I agree with Joe Wilcox and his take on the current position Microsoft finds itself in: a very difficult one. Times are tough. Interesting then, that announcing a drop in revenue last week resulted in an increase in stock price. I’m no stock analyst and I’m not going to event try to understand the numbers, but I do think there is an underlying confidence in Microsoft at the moment. I suspect there’s...

Further to my post yesterday, I thought I’d dig a little deeper into some of the applications taking advantage of the new Facebook Open Stream API (announced on Monday).  This video from CNET is a wonderful demonstration from Microsoft’s Brian Goldfarb where he shows two Open Stream enabled applications. The first, a Silverlight app allows beautiful interaction with a friend’s stream, especially...

It’s a big day of Service Pack Releases from Microsoft, with the following being made available today: Office 2007 SP2 Office 2007 continues to improve with a substantial list of enhancements and fixes. Whilst every product in the Office suite has received attention, the major focus (as we’ve mentioned previously) will likely be place on Outlook. The team have worked hard to improve the performance...

It’s early in the backlash cycle as people come to terms with what Facebook is and isn’t providing via its Open Stream API (and developer Wiki). Check out Xobni and Seesmic for details on some of the early examples of how it can be implemented. ReadWriteWeb however offers a slight lament at how limited the data reach is, and overall Marshall’s post is spot on (IMO). Make sure you read the comments...

One of the things that has made Twitter so popular is its simplicity and the 140 character limit. The reason I’m hardly on Twitter anymore is because it is too simple and has a 140 character limit. Yep, I can happily live with it going mainstream and having @oprah around doesn’t faze me at all (as opposed to the reactions noted here). Even all the ‘social media experts’ spamming me isn’t really...

Well this one certainly hasn’t had the hype that Windows 7, IE8 or Windows Mobile 6.5 has experienced. And perhaps you aren’t exactly sure what BizTalk is yourself. You wouldn’t be alone. BizTalk is one of Microsoft’s enterprise tools, and has been powering away for almost a decade. It’s now in its sixth version and was quietly released on Monday. For those who aren’t familiar with it, BizTalk...

I’m a big WordPress fan. Especially the self-hosted variety (like this blog is). So I’m always excited to see the new stuff coming in future versions. What get’s put into the wordpress.com (or wp.com for the tired-fingered amongst us) hosted versions usually makes it into the self-hosted release a version or two later. One feature that is hopefully coming soon is the ability to reply to web comments...

I’m really excited about the upcoming Windows 7 RC availability (who isn’t?). As the Windows 7 Team blog announced on Friday, it should be appearing on MSDN on 30 April, with the public release to follow on 5 May. I’ll be downloading it straight away, as will millions of others I’m sure. What’ll be interesting is to see the download performance. In the past I’ve been really impressed with Microsoft’s...

Good to see some credible rumours about Windows 7 being published. May 5 seems to be the day when Windows 7 RC goes public (and hopefully earlier for MSDN and TechNet subscribers). A week later on May 11 Windows Mobile 6.5 might be released (or perhaps not). But before those releases we’ll have Office 2007 SP2 available on 28 April. And of course the Exchange 2010 Beta was released this past week.

Yep, big title. Big job. Everyone will have an opinion of today’s announcement that Aneesh Chopra has agreed to serve as America’s Chief Technology Officer (see also The Washington Post article). TechCrunch for example doesn’t seem too excited with the choice, and there’s been plenty of discussion on FriendFeed (example, example). Here’s some interesting grabs from the White House press release: In...

Yesterday’s news about the clowns at The Pirate Bay being found guilty should come as no surprise. Justice has been done. Sure, many will make hair-splitting arguments about how they didn’t break the law (the letter of the law), but to me it is the spirit of the law that has been upheld (although perhaps not for long if they win their appeal). What they’ve done is built a service that allows you...

Most of us have a love/hate relationship with email. In spite of all its problems, email is still the main communication mechanism of corporate existence. That’s despite the spam, incessant interruptions and lack of proper tracking functionality. I wonder if you’ve considered how insidious email is? Have you pondered the limiting effects of email on company collaboration for example. Notifications...