Filed under: Internet, Google, Social Software, Web

Google Street View lets you see photographs of city streets and their surroundings taken by Google cameras attached to vehicles that have been driving along major city streets in the US and other countries including Japan, Australia, and Spain. And now you can also find photos taken by amateur photographers as well. In this case, that’s a good thing, because the amateur photos are often higher quality and more interesting compositionally. That’s what happens when a human being snaps a photo instead of letting a computer to it.

Google is using geotagged photos contributed through Panoramio. The company also makes some of these photos available in other applications like Google Earth.

If you’re viewing a location in Street View that has user photos available, an icon will pop up in the upper right corner of your screen letting you know that user images are available. When you click, a series of photos that you can scroll through will pop up. Just click the button on the right, which should now be labeled Street View, to go back to the normal view.

[via WebWare]

Google adds user generated photos to Street View originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 28 Feb 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Internet, Social Software, Web

It looks like Digg is working on a StumbleUpon-like toolbar that lets users digg, bury, or find related stories while surfing the web. Veronica Belmont first spotted a screenshot of the toolbar on Flickr, and it looks like the folks at TechCrunch managed to track down some additional information about it.

If that info is correct, here’s how it works. Users will see a toolbar the toolbar pop up on their screens. The toolbar shows up in an i-frame, which means it’s not browser specific and you can make it go away at any time just by hitting the X button.

When you visit pages that have already been submitted to Digg, you’ll see the number of votes it has received. Or you can submit the page you’re currently on. You can also bury stories or see related stories.

The toolbar will also create a shortened URL for any page you’re visiting, beginning with digg.com… You can then share this shortened URL via email, Twitter, Facebook, or other services much the same way you would with TinyURL.

The Digg toolbar is not available to the general public at this point. And for all we know, the whole thing could just be a hoax. But it certainly seems like something Digg could and/or should offer in the future.

Digg could take on StumbleUpon, TinyURL with new toolbar originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News, Social Software, web 2.0

After a move to draconian terms of service that included taking ownership of practically all user content, Facebook caught such a big backlash from users that it had to roll back to the old terms. Now Mark Zuckerberg has posted on the Facebook blog with some info about how Facebook will handle its terms of use going forward. The plan is to proceed according to some new “principles” and solicit user feedback about changes.

So, what are these principles?

Well, in spite of the misstep toward owning user data, one of Facebook’s new principles is that users own their own content. The others are equality (same terms for every user), free flow of information, freedom to share, no more arbitrary removal of accounts, and transparency about future plans and changes.

Comments are open now on these proposed principles, and on the corresponding new “rights and responsibiities” document.

Facebook adopts new principles, asks for user feedback originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The canonical url tag has been around for a while, but it is about to become much more important in optimizing your websites for use by search engines, according to SEOmozBlog. Search Engine Journal…

Filed under: Blogging, Freeware, Social Software, iPhone

You may remember Tumblrette as the fantastic Tumblr iPhone application I told you about way back in November. It was (and remains) a super-slick and stylish way for iPhone users to post to Tumblr, however today the folks at Tumblr have announced they’ve bought Tumblrette: and made it their own free “Tumblr for iPhone” application [App Store Link].

Not content with setting the application free (though its original $1.99 price was hardly bank-breaking), the folks at Tumblr have also added support for the iPhone-style Tumblr Dashboard and a bookmarklet so that you can easily post links right from the iPhone’s Safari browser.

The ever-slick (and now free) application is available in an AppStore near you!

Tumblrette becomes Tumblr for iPhone originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some years ago, it was enough to get many inbound links to get high rankings on Google. This has changed. As Google and other search engines continually improve the way they rank web pages, getting the right links is crucial if you want to be listed on the first search result page.

Filed under: Internet, Social Software, web 2.0

It’s fairly difficult to muster up sympathy for Facebook’s management when it comes to the current user revolt over changes to the site’s terms and conditions of use (or T&Cs as they are commonly know). After all we’ve seen it all before, anyone remember lefty singer songwriter Billy Bragg’s 2006 MySpace Revolution? Putting aside the irony that it’s likely that the MySpace revolution is the only one that Billy Bragg will ever lead, the 2006 Revolt was a blueprint for Facebook’s 2009 controversy.

Back in 2006 MySpace changed its T&Cs to provide for an ongoing license to any content posted on the service as they saw fit, fast forward to 2009 and Facebook has done substantially the same thing. Back in 2006 an activist user revolt lead by Bragg forced a turnaround from MySpace, fast forward to 2009 and (absent Billy Bragg) Facebook has done exactly the same thing.

So, what were they thinking at Facebook? Why would a massively successful site show such a disrespect for its users?

While people may put up with the most draconian clauses drafted into the T&Cs for Windows Vista or Adobe Acrobat, generally because they never read them and they couldn’t change them if they wanted to, when it comes to online media and the Web things are different. Facebook users should be concerned about the T&Cs, they constitute the terms of the contract between Facebook and its users and is a legally binding document. In an ideal world contracts for services should be negotiated between the parties, in the case of most Web sites and software companies that rarely happens, but this time the users have struck back and are now appear to be collectively negotiating that contract through online activism.

The drafting of Terms and Conditions for Web sites is a tricky business, lawyers must weigh up the potential risks of litigation against the possibility that the terms and conditions will sufficiently turn off users from using the site. When it comes to social media sites there is another significant concern - that users will revolt, start discussion groups, stop posting photos of their cats, and make statements to the media that generate poor publicity for the site.

Lawyers for social media sites need to have a nuanced understanding of the site’s fundamental business and pay attention to risks that might impact the business both inside and outside the courtroom.

Given that Facebook would have been well aware of the MySpace case, a cynical observer might suggest that the manner in which Facebook clearly highlighted the changes to the T&C showed that Facebook’s management was well aware of the possibility of a user revolt and that their subsequent response would have been mapped out in advance. Facebook’s subsequent response to revert back to the previous T&C an to enter into a process of consultation

Users have good reason to be worried about large corporations infringing on their IP rights or privacy. How many users would want to be featured in a Facebook tie up with US Magazine of top ten of “Facebook Funniest Drunken Party Photos” or see their “25 Random Things About Me” reprinted without permission or compensation in an
“Official Facebook 25 Things” book?

Given the dominance of Facebook in the social media world it seems unlikely that this hiccup will only result in the cancellation of a tiny number of hardcore users while at the same time continuing to generate headlines and page views for the site. Facebook and other social media sites need to establish exactly how far they can go when
it comes to the user generated content that drives their world and ensure that lawyers don’t kill the golden goose by overreaching and draconian T&Cs. Ultimately Facebook needs to understand that when it comes to user generated content people do actually care and show some respect.

Hey Facebook - where’s the respect? originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Web services, Social Software, Mobile, Web

Remember when Twitter let you track your @replies and search terms, and when SMS alerts were free around the world? Well, I do, and I miss it.

Fortunately, Twe2 has come along to fill the void. The service lets you customize which Twitter alerts you want to get on your phone, when you want to get them, and how many you want per hour.

So far Twe2 has worked as promised for me, although it can be slow at times due to the volume of signups. This isn’t a serious drawback, since Twitter alerts could also be slow, back when you could still get them. Twe2 is ad-supported so it can stay free, but a short text ad isn’t that distracting and it doesn’t keep you from getting complete messages.

The service could improve by switching to oauth instead of requiring a Twitter password, but for right now, I’m just happy to get @replies to my phone again.

Get Twitter tracking and free international SMS with Twe2 originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Social Software, Search, web 2.0, Web

It’s been more than half a year since Twitter purchased the search engine Summize. And it looks like Twitter is finally starting to integrate search features into the micro-blogging service. You can already search for messages across the public Twitter network in near-real time by visiting search.twitter.com. But soon you’ll see a search box and Trends drop down menu on the main page of Twitter.

Right now these features will only show up for a handful of random Twitter users. But if the test is successful, Twitter could roll out the features to additional users soon.

If you don’t want your messages to show up in searches, you can click the “Protect my updates” button in your account settings so that only people who you have approved will be able to see your messages.

[via VentureBeat]

Twitter starting to integrate search features at last originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Internet, Windows, Social Software, Web

Online storage and file backup service Livedrive has dropped its beta label and it’s now charging for service. We first looked at the service back in December, when Livedrive was offering unlimited file storage for free while in beta. Now that the service has officially launched, the company is charging £39.95 per year for 100GB of space or £89.95 for unlimited storage. That’s about $57 US and $128 US respectively.

You can certainly find cheaper online backup solutions (Mozy and Carbonite come to mind). But Livedrive offers a few features that you won’t find from other services, including integration with Windows Explorer and social features like Facebook integration. And once your files are uploaded to Livedrive’s servers, you can access them from any computer with a web browser.

If you signed up during the beta, Livedrive is offering a 20% discount to the first 10,000 beta testers who sign up for paid accounts.

Livedrive goes live (online storage and backup) originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: E-mail, Social Software, Web

If you spend more time in Gmail than Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn, but still want to know what your contacts on those social networks are up to, NutshellMail can help. When you sign up for a free account, you can associate it with your account on various social networking sites, and then you can designate how frequently you want to receive updates. Want to know if you’ve received new friend requests, group invitations, or if your friends birthdays are coming up? NutshellMail can shoot you an email with that information every hour, once a week, or anywhere in between.

You can also use NutShellMail to connect your email accounts. For example, you can have the service forward a list of messages in your Gmail inbox to your work email address every few hours if you want to keep up with your Gmail while you’re at work without actually logging into Gmail.

[via Mashable]

NutshellMail delivers Facebook, MySpace updates to your email inbox originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google recently wrote in one of its official blogs that it is possible for spammers to take advantage of your website without ever setting a virtual foot in your server. Spammers can do this by abusing open redirects. What can you do to avoid this?

SubmitEdge had an excellent piece yesterday on building links by using social bookmaking sites. There are dozens social bookmark sites. Among the more well known are Digg, Delicious, Reddit, and…

Filed under: Linux, Web services, Social Software, Unix, Education

Regardless of what operating system you happen to be running, it’s always a good idea to be conversant with the command line. For new (or should that be Gnu?) Linux and Unix users, Command-line Fu is a site that deserves a spot in your bookmarks.

It’s designed to be a social resource for terminal commands. Submit a command, describe it, and the community votes it up or down. Sign up for an account or log in with your OpenID to add commands to your favorites. Most submissions are tagged which allows you to easily find, for example, all the grep or ssh entries.

Command-line Fu also provides two handy ways to stay on top of new additions. All entries are tweeted to @commandlinefu and there’s an RSS feed available as well.

I do have one very small gripe with the site: I wish it worked better in Lynx.

Command-line Fu is a good reference for *nix terminal newbies originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Internet, Productivity, Freeware, Social Software, Web

If you use Twitter for more than just messaging - for example, tracking expenditures or appointments - you may want to take a look at Twistory. It’s a handy web tool that creates a calendar feed for your past status updates.

Simply enter your Twitter username where requested, and Twistory creates a feed that you can subscribe to in a compatible calendar application like iCal, Windows Calendar, Outlook, or Google Calendar.

Want to track multiple accounts? No problem. There’s no limit to the number of feeds you can create with Twistory. It’s also a good way to archive tweets from other users you follow - say, for example, @downloadsquad.

Track your Twitter history in your favorite calendar app originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Adobe, Freeware, Social Software, web 2.0, Windows x64

Version 2 of Alert Thingy may have just been released last month, but version 3 is here now.

V3 has been tweaked to include features that make it an excellent addition to your work desktop, including support for Basecamp, Yammer, and Huddle.

Alert Thingy also works with TwitPic and Twitter Search now, making it one of the most complete desktop Twitter clients around. Ping.fm has also been added so you can easily keep all your status and microblog sites up-to-date. Just visit ping.fm/key and paste in the resulting code.

To run Alert Thingy, you’ll need to have Adobe Air installed. If you’re looking for the original FriendFeed only version, it’s still available from their site as well.

Alert Thingy v3 adds support for business apps originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Old websites have a big advantage over new websites. Websites that were around several years ago had far fewer competitors and it was much easier for them to get high rankings in that environment. How can you compete with these websites? Here are three tips.

TechCrunch broke the news recently that Pipl.com has taken over the top position in the people search niche in the U.S. - though Spock still leads that market globally. Roi Carthy at TechCrunch calls…

Filed under: Social Software, web 2.0

Just because you subscribe to an RSS feed doesn’t mean you want to read every single thing in that feed. What if you read Download Squad just for Brad Linder’s posts, or you’re only interested in posts about Google? FeedScrub might be what you’re looking for. It lets you vote each of your RSS articles up or down, training it to only display the stuff you care about. You then subscribe to the scrubbed feed in your reader, and you’re good to go.

Where FeedScrub gets things right is at the bottom of each item in the scrubbed feed, where they’ve put in buttons so you can train FeedScrub directly from your reader. Where it gets things wrong — but only a little bit — is by giving you one set of preferences for all of your subscriptions, instead of letting you export them as separate scrubbed feeds. I’d like to break my unread count down by individual feed, not aggregate it into one scrubbed one.

Feedscrub is like a spam filter for your RSS feeds originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Donna Fontenot sums up the dilemma many bloggers and writers on the web are now faced with:These days, we have to actually create content worth linking to! Oh my, what a concept…She looked at what…