Techy Labs » Web Labs

Twitter Announces Fast Follow Feature

Rishabh — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 09:23:24 +0000

Twitter just announced a fascinating new way for mobile users (even those without a Twitter account) to quickly and easily start following the short message bursts of the Twitterverse. With the new "Fast Follow" feature (say that three times fast), anyone can text "Follow @rish404" (or any other username) to Twitter at 40404 and they will instantly start receiving SMS alerts for that user’s tweets.

What is more impressive, however, it that those without an account of their own can still receive alerts and can even sign up right from their phone via SMS. While this is a simple feature add for Twitter, it is a brilliant move that will get more people trying the service.

Now with Fast Follow, anyone can start following tweets as easy as they vote on American Idol or donate to the Red Cross. Now business, organizations and even people can say, "Follow me on Twitter by texting ‘Follow @chcameron’ to 40404," and people will know what that means and how to do it. There is much more familiarity with SMS short codes than there is with signing up for Twitter and following people that way.

Dropbox Just Gone Better

Rishabh — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 09:21:33 +0000

Your favorite content sharing application, DropBox just got better and a cool new feature is added to it:

Any file or folder in your Dropbox is now linkable!

These links are presented in a snazzy new web view that allows people to view or play your shared files straight from their browser.

Here’s an example of a single file

And an example of a folder

Here’s how it works:

1. From the web or desktop app, pull up the context menu of the file/folder you’d like to share, then click ‘Get shareable link’

2. This takes you to the page view of the file/folder you’re linking, and you can grab the link from the top of the page.

3. You can then share this link with anyone!

Some more info:

This will only work with Dropbox clients 0.8 or higher and the feature is currently in beta. You’ll have to restart your client to enable the feature. You can get it here
All your links are viewable from the ‘Linked Items’ tab on you Sharing page. You can even make shared folder links, which will be viewable from both tabs.
The public folder will still work as it always has.
Both the music and movie players will keep autoplaying until they run out of stuff to play. It’s pretty handy to set it and forget it (In the future: more controls for the media players)
Office files, pdfs, code files, etc. are all displayed using custom viewers (or scribd, when appropriate)
My current favorite sharing model trick: selective sync my entire music library, and still be able to play all my music via sharing model from my laptop
On the horizon: password protection and expiration, other cool stuff

eBay Acquires RedLaser, the Leading Barcode-Scanning iPhone Application

Rishabh — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 09:15:59 +0000

eBay, a leader in mobile commerce and the world’s largest online marketplace, today announced that it has acquired RedLaser, the popular barcode-scanning application for iPhone, and related technology from Occipital. With over two million downloads, RedLaser is the top-selling iPhone barcode-scanning application for comparison shopping and finding product information using a mobile device. Terms for the deal were not disclosed.

eBay plans to integrate RedLaser’s barcode-scanning technology into its leading iPhone applications, including its eBay Marketplace, eBay Selling, StubHub and Shopping.com applications, providing more than 10 million users with access to product information for fast and easy selling and comparison shopping. The technology is designed to help consumers find great deals online for virtually any product with a barcode, and for eBay sellers to quickly create listings by accessing pricing trends and product details for millions of items in eBay’s catalog. The eBay Selling application for the iPhone will be the first iPhone application to take advantage of RedLaser’s barcode-scanning technology for mobile users to sell items online.

To download the free RedLaser iPhone application, Please Go Here

Get A Chance To Meet Facebook Team in California

Rishabh — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 11:34:19 +0000

Something is cooking in Facebook. And no doubt, it’s a good thing. I just logged into my Facebook account and saw a link of some beta testing program that Facebook is launching. I read more and found it very interesting.

As announced by Facebook they are working on a new product for which they are inviting beta testers outside of Facebook team. This is an excerpt from official page:

As a beta tester, your job will be to ask great questions and provide great answers about your favorite topics. Economics? Skydiving? Relationships? Mexican Restaurants? It’s up to you. You’ll be the first person outside of Facebook to use this product. Your expert writing will be seen by tens of millions of people — including job recruiters. And we’ll bring our best beta testers out to California to tour Facebook headquarters and meet the team.

Few lucky winners who will be chosen by Facebook would get a chance to fly to California and meet the Facebook team there.

To be eligible for the competition, you have to answer 3 question of your choice from following questions:

How can I get over my fear of flying?
What are some fun family activities to do with two small children on the weekend?
What caused the U.S. stock market to crash in 2008?
What’s the secret to throwing a great housewarming party?
What are the main differences between Google Chrome and Internet Explorer?
What are women looking for in a relationship?
What methods has BP tried to clean up the oil spill?
What should I do to prepare for the Bar exam?
How did The Beatles find success?

Here’s the Official Link where you can find all the information

Do let us know if you’re participating so that we can order things that you could bring for us from California

Watch Apple WWDC 2010 Live Streaming

Rishabh — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:43:41 +0000

The much awaited Worldwide Developers Conference 2010 is going to happen tonight. Entire world of Apple Fanboys, iPhone lovers and Mac ninjas is waiting eagerly for the event. The event is going to be taking place at San Jose, California and will take place for 5 days, starting from June 7th. The starting time of the event is 10AM PST (Pacific Standard Time). Check according to your local time on when to grab the live happenings.

Following are expected to be the rockstars of the WWDC event:

iPhone 4G
iPhone OS 4.0
iPad OS 3.3
Verizon iPhone CDMA
iTunes on the Cloud
Mac Books looks refreshed
MobileMe Free Version
Safari 5
Mac OS X 10.7

If you are like us, and can’t attend the event, there is nothing to worry about. You can catch the Live Streaming of the WWDC event at the following places:

Apart from that, following folks would be Live Blogging the event. So, if you want to save your bandwidth, this is a better option:

Apart from that, our very own Twitter is always there to keep you updated within the 140 character limit. have fun