Tweet Penguin: Infinite chain of your followers

I ran into a neat site called Tweet Penguin today. Apparently Tweet Penguin is supposed to be a free way to help you find more followers that have similar interests as you.

You can think of Tweet Penguin as another way of doing a chain letter or chain e-mail. That’s is what Tweet Penguin reminds me of anyway. I referred you, someone else referred me, and someone else referred the person that referred me, and so on.

Tweet Penguin is totally free to join so there is no risk involved. In order to sign up, Tweet Penguin just needs your Twitter log in information along with a few of your interests. Don’t worry about providing your Twitter log in in information. This is a standard way of business for the Twitter era. No one is going to hack into your Twitter account and make you tweet crazy messages or anything like that. It’s perfectly safe.

Once you are all signed up Tweet Penguin will automatically send a tweet out to all your current followers. This will notify them that Tweet Penguin exists. Doing this will also expand your current Social Network to new boundaries.

The last thing Tweet Penguin does is give you a personalized link to spread the word about Tweet Penguin. It’s that simple. Tweet Penguin is one of those things you sign up for and then totally forget you ever signed up. The good thing about Tweet Penguin is that even though you don’t remember you signed up, your chain of Twitter followers will be ever growing behind the scenes.

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Twitter Telepathy: Researchers Turn Thoughts Into Tweets

Early on the afternoon of April 1, Adam Wilson posted a message to Twitter. But instead of using his hands to type, the University of Wisconsin biomedical engineer used his brain. "USING EEG TO SEND TWEET," he thought.

That message may be a modern equivalent of Alexander Graham Bell's "Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you." Brain-computer interfaces are no longer just a gee-whiz technology, but a platform for researchers interested in immediate real-world applications for people who can think, but can't move.

"We're more interested in the applications," said Justin Williams, head of the University of Wisconsin's Neural Interfaces lab. "How do we actually make these technologies useful for people with disabilities?"

The researchers built upon the BCI2000, a software tool pioneered by Williams and Wadsworth Center neural injury specialist Gerwin Schalk. The software translates thought-induced changes in a scalp's electrical fields to control an on-screen cursor.

The BCI2000 is already used by 120 laboratories worldwide, but its communications applications have been largely restricted to messages appearing on a nearby screen.

"A lot of these have been scientific exercises, geared to writing things out but not really doing anything with it," said Williams. "We wanted to say, that's not how a person would want to communicate, especially with the advent of online communications."

The work is special because it meets the immediate needs of locked-in people, said Purdue University biomedical engineer Kevin Otto, who was not involved in the project.

Posted Here

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Twitter Blog: Wily Weekend Worms

On a weekend normally reserved for bunnies, a worm took center stage. A computer worm is a self-replicating computer program sometimes introduced by folks with malicious intent to do some harm to a network. Please note that no passwords, phone numbers, or other sensitive information was compromised as part of these attacks.

The worm introduced to Twitter this weekend was similar to the famous Samy worm which spread across the popular MySpace social-networking site a while back. At that time, MySpace filed a lawsuit against the virus creator which resulted in a felony charge and sentencing. Twitter takes security very seriously and we will be following up on all fronts.

Twitter Blog: Wily Weekend Worms

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Cool Collection of Twitter Windows Desktop Apps

Desktop apps

Windows

• Ada - Ada is the perfect little Twitter app with a clean, simple design. It doesn't hog up your desktop or distract you with a million crazy features. See and send tweets, replies and direct messages. Ada runs on both PCs and MACs.
• AlertThingy - AlertThingy v2 brings the very latest updates from your favourite social networks direct to your desktop. Plus send Tweets, update your Facebook status, upload photos to Flickr, post to Tumblr and more. With v2 AlertThingy makes it faster and easier to manage the online you. Plus you get the coolest looking RSS reader on the interweb.
• BigTweet - BigTweet installs as a bookmarklet and allows you to post to Twitter from any web page. Choose a classic 140 character update, or a 240 character tweet. Insert special Unicode characters and shorten URLs with the Bit.ly API right from the bookmarklet window. Automatically capture the current page title, URL and any highlighted text. No registration is required - only Twitter login credentials are needed.
• Bitter - A free social networking client that supports Twitter, Friend Feed, Plurk and Pownce. It is fully featured including the ability to follow hash tags, do Twitter searches, auto-shorten URLs, has color schemes, spell checking, intellisense, and lots more.
• BMS Twitter Client - A Windows Twitter Client written in VB .NET based on work by the Yedda Dev Blog. Just unzip and run the executable. Automatically breaks long messages into pieces, including replies. Uses Google to translate your language into one or more other languages - additional multilingual support can be added. New updated version coming soon! By myklami
• BMS Twitter Export: - A Windows Twitter Application that exports all Tweets for a given Twitter Account within a given date range to an HTML file and also downloads associated twitpic images. A bit heavy on the API calls so avoid calling it repeated within a given hour. By myklami
• Chirrup - A simple Windows client for Japanese
• Digsby - A multiprotocol IM client that lets you manage all your IM, email, and social network accounts from one easy-to-use application. For IM, it brings all your buddies into one merged contact list with support for AIM, MSN, Facebook, Yahoo, ICQ, GTalk, and Jabber. For email, it offers notifications of new emails with message previews, as well as, the ability to perform actions such as "Mark as Read" and "Delete" right from the notification with support for Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL/AIM Mail, POP, and IMAP. For social networks, it provides a newsfeed of events on the network and the ability to set status with support for Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.
• DX Monitor - An amateur radio application to report worldwide DX activity and alert amateurs to activity from rare countries. Alerts and status reports can be automatically tweeted based on reception reports from DX Summit and telnet links to DX Clusters.
• FAROO - A Peer-to-peer Web Search Engine, that integrates Twitter search to discover discussions and people related to the query.
• feedalizr - A free deskptop application that allows you to view, rate and comment on what your friends are sharing online. Tweet, upload pics to Flickr, update your Facebook status, keep up to date with your friends’ Google Reader, Digg, Tumblr, YouTube and Last.fm posts on Friendfeed. Use unique filters to reduce the noise. Duplications are filtered out. -- by MIH SWAT
• Flotzam - A Mash Up of Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and blogs, completely configurable -- by Karsten Januszewski and Tim Aidlin
• Found.im - The Twitter/Facebook client for the person always on the move! Automatically tracks your location (Home, Work, Starbucks, etc.) and combines the information with status updates. Super discreet interface that doesn't bombard you with messages. Microblog and get back to what you were doing. Check out the intro video.
• Friendbar- A Firefox toolbar that is the best way to follow Twitter & Facebook updates, and post to Twitter and Facebook
• GeoTweeter - Puts the 'where' into your tweets! Messages automatically include a 'schmap.me' link, showing followers your exact location with a configurable map icon: say more about places you visit with an optional photo and star rating.
• JabberTwitterBridge -- Java application to update Twitters, Jabber's status (google talk gtalk) and Google calendar together (for example : In a meeting until 15h12) (Twitter to google talk, google talk to twitter, google calendar to google talk and google calendar to twitter) MrCba
• jata - jata stands for just another Twitter App. Jata is a Google Talk like Twitter Application which was developed using VB.net and Twiteroo Twitter API framework. This application automatically checks for new messages periodically. You can post your status right from jata post message screen. You can also reply to tweets using this windows application.
• KlipFolio - World's smallest personal dashboard to track Twitter Updates, with instant notifications.
• L0K8 - a tiny app that auto-updates your Twitter location when you move from place to place. Written by the founder of PBwiki, David Weekly.
• MadTwitter -- a clon of Twitterrific for Windows which doesn't require .NET -- by Sacha Fuentes
• Media Center Status Application - Updates your Twitter status according to what you do in Windows Media Center and displays your Twitter friends' status updates in Media Center. Requires Windows Vista or 7. By Jussi Palo
• Nearby tweets - Find twitterers nearby (or anywhere for that matter). Add to the fun by searching new locations and using keywords. By Brian Cray
• OutTwit - OutTwit (Outlook + Twitter = OutTwit) Use Twitter from Outlook.
• Post To Twitter - Post tweets from Microsoft Excel. VBA-based add-in for Excel 2000-2007.
• Public Timeline Screensaver - Screensaver that shows the public timeline.
• Pwytter - Free open source Twitter client written in Python by PJ Coudert. User Interface in 14 languages.
• QckTwit -- A simple Twitter app that you can activate anytime by Shift+Alt+T and it would pop up presenting a text box to enter your update quickly. As soon as you press Ctrl+Enter, it will send update to Twitter and get out of your way. Separate box for URL. If your message exceeds Twitter's limit then it will automatically break it down in multiple twits and color those extra chars differently. Open source, requires .Net 3.5 -- by Shital Shah
• QKTwit - Super lightweight Twitter client, Written on the Abobe AIR Platform, aims to be feature rich but small and low memory footprint. By Daniel Rivers
• sociagami -- sociagami allows you to manage your multiple social network statuses from one beautiful Windows application. sociagami currently supports Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter status.
• StickyTweets - An open source, lightweight client written in Win32 C/C++ for Windows XP SP2 or greater. No additional frameworks required.
• TeleTwitter - A Windows Twitter application that tries hard to be simple and beautiful, like its web 2.0 name sake.
• Threeter Open source Twitter client that makes updating your status easy as 1-2-3: press the hotkey combination, enter your message, press Enter. Easy and really fast, worth a try :-) by Devv
• Togi Twitter Client (Update) -- Togi is developed on .NET 2.0 with C# and is a open source software by Oguzhan
• triQQr -- Twitter Client for Windows v0.2 with posting, profiles, direct messages and link to homepage of user
• TheTwitterBot -- Twitter client for windows. It is an automated robot that can follow by keyword new friends, can stop follow those who don't follow, can update your status by your pre-made messages, can follow those who follow you, can send massive DM, can auto reply to those you follow, etc.
• Twadget - A Windows Vista sidebar gadget by Rod Begbie
• TwApp! for Windows -- by Harper Reed (Requires .NET 2.0)
• Twair a twitter desktop client powered by extjs & adobe air
• Tway a simplistic windows client which doesn't disturb you so much
• Tweet-SQL is a Twitter Client for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and above. Over 30 procedures allow you to leverage the Twitter API with standard TSQL.
• Tweet All About It! -- Tweet any snippet of text directly from your browser (Internet Explorer and Firefox supported). By iElectrify (@sherice on Twitter)
• Twessenger -- a Twitter add-in for Windows Live Messenger 8.1. Sets your personal message to your latest tweet! -- by Kunal Kundaje
• Twibble for the desktop is a twitter client built on top of the new Adobe AIR platform. It provides easy twitter access in a user friendly way.
• Twidget for Konfabulator/ Yahoo! Widgets Post from your desktop.
• TwiPing Twitter Contact Management Software. Follow and unfollow large batches of friends and followers with a single click.
• Twit4Live -- A Messenger Plus! Live Script that adds twitter interaction to Windows Live Messenger
• Twit4Trivia -- A trivia application for twitter featuring more then 64000 questions and various statistics.
• Twitsy - Twitsy is a open source, VB.NET Application which shows basic integration of twitter API and .NET Framework 2. -- by rui(JumpByte)
• Twitter CLI - Easy to use Command Line Interface allows submitting tweets to Twitter from the Windows CMD Prompt or 'Run' box -- by Jason Fowler.
• Twitter Desktop - A How-To for making TwitterVision your desktop background, watch live tweets while working.(not an app)
• Twitter Gadget - A Windows Vista Desktop Sidebar Gadget that helps you keep track of all the sweet tweets! Fetches tweets from twitter.com and updates them every 10 seconds.
• Twitter It! - A Windows .NET Desktop Application created by Travis James, currently on Version 1.0.
• Twitter Submitter - now available. For Windows 95/98/2k/XP (tested) Submit Twitterings to Twitter.com without using a web browser! Submit Private messages as well! (D username message)Kenneth Udut (simplify3@aol.com)
• Twitter-Sync (Yahoo Messenger Plugin) - Keeps your Yahoo! Messenger status and Twitter in synchronization. Update your Yahoo! Status to create a new tweet. Your new tweets update your Yahoo! status. Also keeps track of your twitter friends from the main messenger window with alerts, pop-ups + more... -- by WackyB.
• Twitterbox -- Twitter client for Windows made with beon widget technology.
• TwitterIM -- Get/post updates on twitter using your google chat account (gtalk). Works just like Twitter IM functionality which is currently disabled. Sends message to you on chat if you friends post updates. You can message it and it will update your twitter status. By itsfrosty.
• Twitterlicious -- Twitterlicious is a small app that makes using Twitter more fun. It handles all the hard work, leaving you to read and write tweets with the minimum fuss. Best of all, *Twitterlicious is free*!
• Twitterlights -- Twitterlights is an integrated feature of i-Lighter 2.1 allowing one-click tweeting and content saving with your mouse -- all free!
• Twitteroo 1.4 for Windows released on 13 March 07 (by RareEdge Design Group) - *new* features include font resizing, transparency, sound notifications, built-in URL shortening. Programmable API!
• TwitterYM - a tiny ruby script that updates your Yahoo Messenger status with your latest Twitter one (requires Windows and Ruby) - by Alex Brie
• Twittget Twitter Vista Gadget, that features a small docked mode, a large float mode and Direct Messaging support. by mayu
• TwittIt - A system tray application for easy posting to Twitter by Denis Briel
• Twittle - A lightweight Twitter client for Windows (XP, Vista). Clean un-cluttered UI written in WPF. Updates automatically. by Twittle.
• TwittMe! - A new Twitter Windows Client 1.0.4. Updates itself directly without user input, keeping it always as bug free as possible. Will open source it when client it's more feature complete.
• TwitTray -- A minimalist approach to a desktop Twitter status updater. The program sits silently in your system tray until you want to update your Twitter status. Very tiny and written in old school bulletproof C++/MFC. By kwitcherbitchen.org.
• Twtview 1.4 NEW FEATURES: 'pm' lets you see your private messages, 'u twittername' will show any public users homepage. (Jan 27 07). For Win32. View all public timelines and personal timeline without needing web browser. Can be used at the same time as Twitter Submitter W32 to instantly see your submissions. Kenneth Udut
• Visual Twit -- a simple Twitter posting client for Windows -- by Andy
• Witty -- A Twitter client for Windows Vista and XP powered by the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) by Alan Le
• WittyTweets -- A cute Twitter client for Windows Vista and XP by Tweet Feeds
• Yakkle! - A free application that integrates together a twitter client, IM client, multi-user voice conferencing, and group desktop sharing services. -- by ZenViva
• TweetIE - CloudBerry TweetIE is a Twitter plug-in for IE that helps you to post quotes from the websites you visit with a click of the button and attach a short Chilp.IT URL to the source page.
• pbtweet - bookmarklet enhancer for twitter.com on Safari and Chrome. pbtweet shows conversation chain, media badge and RT/via buttons. Other feature: Automatically update timeline. Automatically adding next page when scrolling down to bottom up to 40 pages stable. Many interaction are animated with using CSS3. -- by t_trace

Source: Twitter Fan Wiki

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One Lucky tweet can make you $500 Richer

I came across this interesting new site www.twitchance.com, which is a free Twitter lottery! Yes you heard me free, and I mean FREE CASH! How is that possible you ask? Well, it’s pretty simple; TwitChance gives away money (lottery style) to those who pass along a message (from a sponsor).

TwitChance has been launched silently and the first lottery draw took place on April 6, 2009. The inaugural lottery was sponsored by 6S Marketing (who provided a $500 prize) and the winner was @benjaminluk

I would like to share his jubilant tweets: -

"The payment just came through. Thanks to @twitchance and @6s_marketing, I won $606.01 CAD ($500 USD)! Twitter contests, ftw. Literally."

The idea is to get people to post a message containing a link to a sponsor on Twitter in exchange for the chance to win the TwitChance lottery. Following the run of each message, a winner will randomly be selected and awarded the prize. Consumers make the choice to pass along the message on their own terms and their own time and the sponsor in turn receives amplified outreach to the online world.

Here are a few things to consider:

* Anyone with a Twitter and PayPal account can join TwitChance - it’s free and requires no registration.
* Prizes and sponsors will be new and exciting and changed on a regular basis.
* TwitChance is safe – it doesn’t require the user’s Twitter password.
* Twitter currently enjoys 12 million and growing user ship.

So what are you waiting for...simply visit www.twitchance.com and count yourself in for this free lottery....

I'll be happy if you win $500. Its difficult though :-)

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Who think Twittering and watching YouTube videos makes you more productive?

As I was reading a very interesting study published at dailymail.co.uk which says: - (I have added my comments in blue..)

"Have you been caught Twittering or on Facebook at work? Yeah at times!!! Well now you can tell your manager it actually makes you a harder worker. OK!! Sounds Great to me...but who will be responsible for delay in official tasks?

An Australian study found surfing the internet for fun during office hours actually increased employees productivity by nine per cent. Damn!! that's too much.. so my total productivity will be somewhere around 19% if I use twitter and youtube during office hours :-)

Study author Mr Coker said surfing the net helps workers to rest their brains That's the Catch right there!!!...you need to have a brain for that...hmm

Study author Brent Coker, from the University of Melbourne said 'workplace internet leisure browsing,' or WILB, helped to sharpen workers' concentration.

'People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration,' he said. People then need to "Zone in" back again and how to do it? ...i need a tutorial for that too.

'Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days' work, and as a result, increased productivity.' What's the definition of "short and unobtrusive" by the way..

According to the study of 300 workers, 70 per cent of people who go online at work engage in WILB. (workers? ...it can by any worker...janitor..data entry operator...list goes on)

Among the most popular activities are reading online news website, playing online games and watching videos on YouTube.

'Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos, using social networking sites or shopping online under the pretence that it costs millions in lost productivity,' said Mr Coker.

'That's not always the case.' Whats the probability? 1% may be

However, Coker said the study looked at people who browsed in moderation, or were online for less than 20 per cent of their total time in the office.

'Those who behave with Internet addiction tendencies will have a lower productivity than those without,' he said."

A lot of people including me now have an excuse of using twitter and youtube in the office and having fun at work and all the responsibility goes to the above research....

Guys...don't be serious...just kidding!!

I seriously think my productivity at work is diminishing using twitter and social media at work and I am now going back to work you guys must not read this article while you are at work..and Don't work too hard...lol

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Breaking News: Twitter Search Goes Crazy

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