A Faster Way to Message On Mobile Via Facebook Blog

( Cross Posted From The Facebook Official Blog )

More and more of us rely on our phones to send and receive messages. But it isn't always easy to know the best way to reach someone on their phone. Should you send an email or text? Which will they check first? Did they even get your last message?

They think messaging should be easier than that. You should be able to write a message, click "Send" and know that you will reach the person right away.

So today, they're introducing Messenger, a new mobile app that simplifies how messaging works, and gives you a faster way to message friends and small groups.

A whole new app

Messenger is a separate app, so it only takes one click to get to your messages or send a new one. Messages are delivered through notifications and texts, so your friends are more likely to get them right away.

You can use Messenger to reach all of your friends -- whether they're on Facebook or in your phone contacts. All you have to do is type the person's name.

The Messenger app is an extension of Facebook messages, so all your conversations are in one place, including your texts, chats, emails and messages. Whether you're on your phone or on the web, you can see the full history of all your messages.

Make plans with groups

When you're on the go, coordinating a bunch of people can be tricky, especially if plans change at the last minute. With Messenger, you can quickly start a group conversation and message everyone at once.

If you choose to add your location, the people you're messaging with can easily find each other on the map. You can also attach photos, so everyone else can see and comment on what you're looking at.

How to get Messenger

Messenger will be available for both iPhone and Android starting today. Just search for "Facebook Messenger" in your phone's app store, or get a link to the app texted to your phone.

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Now Publicize to Facebook Pages

Since WordPress launched Publicize for Facebook, which automatically shares a link to new posts to your Facebook account, one of the top requested features has been the ability to Publicize to Facebook Pages. They’ve been listening and working hard, and are happy to announce support for this today.

If you already have Publicize active (which you should if you like traffic), you’ll now see a link to set options for Facebook, inside the Facebook block on the Sharing Settings page.

If you click on it, you’ll see a simple dialog box that lists all your available pages to pick from.

Read More :- http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/now-publicize-to-facebook-pages

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We love Lucy

( Cross Posted From The Google Blog) 

Lucille Ball may have been born 100 years ago today, but her jokes are timeless. Having grown up with the comedic genius of “I Love Lucy,” it’s hard to believe that Lucy, Desi, Fred, and Ethel wrapped up the initial series in 1957. Lucy’s creativity, absurdity, and ever-changing facial expressions (especially when she was scarfing down candy, stomping on grapes or touting a new energy drink) have brought joy and laughter to generations of viewers. 

They’re incredibly happy to celebrate her birthday with a doodle to highlight her brilliant career as an actress and businesswoman. Through the old-timey TV live on the google.comhomepage all day on August 6th, you can flip the six channels for a special Lucy broadcast. 

Happy birthday, Lucy — we still love you!

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Google Working On One Web API to Rule Them All

In a blog post, Google software engineer James Hawkins revealed that the company is working on a system called Web Intents in which it will enable Chrome users to pipe data between different Web applications much the same way Android users can share data between apps. The idea is to create one API that various Web applications can all use to pass data back and forth without a need for each one to be designed to work with the other apps. 

Google used the example of a photo-sharing site enabling an "edit" intent through the Web Intents API. Then users would be able to use various Web-based photo editors or meme generators to modify the image on the photo-sharing site, all through the browser.

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How Not To Be A Closet Spammer Via Yahoo Blog

Have you ever received an email from a friend that was just downright spammy and wonder what possessed him or her to send it? Worse, have you received emails from concerned relatives and friends asking why you sent them emails pitching prescription drugs? If you’re familiar with either situation, then you know what happens when someone’s email account has been compromised and taken over by spammers.

Whether it be via malicious software being silently installed on users’ computers, unknowingly logging in through a phishing page, or the use of common or easy-to-crack passwords, they are seeing an increase in legitimate user accounts that are being accessed and exploited by spammers. While they have measures in place to detect and mitigate the damage, it’s still a daunting and disconcerting dilemma being faced–and collaboratively worked on–by email providers across the industry.

If you have (or know of someone who has) been a victim of such an account compromise, here are the 2 most important actions to secure the account:

1) Change your password immediately. If you have a Yahoo! account, you can change your password at https://edit.yahoo.com/config/change_pw.

If you can no longer access your account, you can get a new password at 

https://edit.yahoo.com/forgotroot. 

If you still can’t access your account after going through the “Forgot Your Password” process, you may contact our Customer Care team for assistance at:

http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/security/general.html

Important: If you use the old password at other sites, they recommend you change it for those accounts as well. Furthermore, don’t revert to the old password at any time; that password can never be used safely again for any of your accounts.

2) Scan your computers for malicious software. If you have an anti-virus program installed, make sure to update it and then run a scan. Do this for both your personal and work computers. (You should be doing this periodically, by the way.)

If you don’t have an anti-virus program and are using a Windows computer, Microsoft provides a free, anti-virus program at:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security_essentials/default.aspx

For more tips and recommendations to keep your online experience safe, be sure to visit the Yahoo! Security Center.

Post Source:- http://www.ymailblog.com/blog/2011/08/how-not-to-be-a-closet-spammer

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Calling from Gmail now in 38 languages, with lower rates to over 150 destinations

They’re always trying to make it easier for people to connect—whether that means sending an email, chatting or video chatting, you can reach the people you care about from right inside Gmail. Last year, they made it possible for those of you in the U.S. to call any mobile phone or landline directly from Gmail and starting today, they are making this available to many more of you who use Gmail outside the U.S. by offering calling in 38 new languages.

Read More:- http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/calling-from-gmail-now-in-38-languages.html

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Justin Bieber Ranks Second In Facebook Page Engagement

Justin Bieber takes two large steps forward in our engagement rankings this week, but falls just short of the number one contender, Jesus Daily. Read on for more.

Name	Fans	Interactions
1. Jesus Daily	7,592,072	2,716,671
2. Justin Bieber	33,497,307	1,247,852
3. Mario Teguh	4,461,750	1,135,732
4. The Bible	7,925,037	1,005,003
5. Terima Kasih Ibu	2,696,826	537,581
6. Lady Gaga	41,281,907	480,221
7. Manchester United	17,361,660	477,988
8. Rihanna	41,400,562	420,509
9. Real Madrid C.F.	17,239,489	405,484
10. Werevertumorro	2,372,252	404,639
11. Jesus Christ	2,820,135	396,067
12. Dios Es Bueno!	4,009,142	391,936
13. MTV Roadies	2,446,478	375,994
14. Quedate Otro Ratito	2,687,572	375,866
15. Texas Hold’em Poker	47,362,791	342,582
16. FC Barcelona	18,169,059	330,941
17. I’m a Muslim & I’m Proud	6,035,316	308,521
18. Mehmetcik	2,384,650	302,655
19. We are Khaled Said	1,518,244	297,217
20. Britney Spears	13,031,035	294,823

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Gmail Snooze With Apps Script

( Cross Posted From The Gmail Blog )

Editor’s Note: For a more technical description, see the Google Apps Developer Blog

At Google, we all use email very heavily -- for communicating with other Googlers, for task management, and to mail around funny pictures of kittens. Because of the volume of email we all deal with, a lot of Googlers subscribe to the “inbox zero” philosophy where we try to keep our inboxes empty except for the messages we currently need to deal with.

What is Gmail Snooze?

One feature that some of us really wanted was for Gmail to let you “snooze” an email. Snoozing means archiving an email for now, but having it automatically reappear in the inbox at some specified time in the future. With Apps Script you can extend Gmail to add this functionality and a lot more yourself.

How to set it up

Even if you don't know how to write a script, it's pretty simple. Go to Google Docs and create a new spreadsheet, then choose "Script Editor" from the "Tools" menu. Paste in the following code:

var MARK_UNREAD = false;
var ADD_UNSNOOZED_LABEL = false;

function getLabelName(i) {
  return "Snooze/Snooze " + i + " days";
}

function setup() {
  // Create the labels we’ll need for snoozing
  GmailApp.createLabel("Snooze");
  for (var i = 1; i <= 7; ++i) {
    GmailApp.createLabel(getLabelName(i));
  }
  if (ADD_UNSNOOZED_LABEL) {
    GmailApp.createLabel("Unsnoozed");
  }
}

function moveSnoozes() {
  var oldLabel, newLabel, page;
  for (var i = 1; i <= 7; ++i) {
    newLabel = oldLabel;
    oldLabel = GmailApp.getUserLabelByName(getLabelName(i));
    page = null;
    // Get threads in "pages" of 100 at a time
    while(!page || page.length == 100) {
      page = oldLabel.getThreads(0, 100);
      if (page.length > 0) {
        if (newLabel) {
          // Move the threads into "today’s" label
          newLabel.addToThreads(page);
        } else {
          // Unless it’s time to unsnooze it
          GmailApp.moveThreadsToInbox(page);
          if (MARK_UNREAD) {
            GmailApp.markThreadsUnread(page);
          }
          if (ADD_UNSNOOZED_LABEL) {
            GmailApp.getUserLabelByName("Unsnoozed")
              .addToThreads(page);
          }          
        }     
        // Move the threads out of "yesterday’s" label
        oldLabel.removeFromThreads(page);
      }  
    }
  }
}

Then click the “Save” button and give it a name. In the dropdown labeled "Select a function to run," choose "setup" and click the blue run arrow to the left of it. This will ask you to authorize the script, and will create the necessary labels in your Gmail. Then go to the "Triggers" menu and choose "current script's triggers." Click the link to set up a new trigger, choosing the "moveSnoozes" function, a "time-driven" event, "day timer," and then "midnight to 1am." Click save and you’re done.

Using the Snooze Label in Gmail

To "snooze" a thread, use Gmail’s “Move To” button to move the thread into the "Snooze for X days" label and archive it. Every night, threads will move up through one day of the queue, and at the appointed number of days they will reappear in your inbox, unarchived.

Because this is an Apps Script, you can edit the code any way you like. If you’d like different snooze times or for unsnoozed messages to get starred, you can easily change the code. And if you have an even better idea for how to use Apps Script to improve Gmail, you can post it to our Gallery (Script Editor > Share > Publish Project) to share with the world.

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You can do some amazing things with Blogger - David Kutcher

( Cross Posted From The Blogger Blog )

Editor’s note: We invited David Kutcher, an innovative web developer from Northampton MA, to write a guest blog post to share how he uses Blogger to create robust, beautiful and easy to use websites for his clients.

Hi, my name is David Kutcher. I own Confluent Forms LLC, a graphic design and custom web-based software development firm in Northampton, MA. We specialize in creating gorgeous and engaging websites with custom content management systems. As curious as it made sound, we’ve found that Blogger can be a great platform for web development when a custom CMS isn’t needed. Blogger provides a ton of functionality and design freedom for our clients, and not just for blogs!

You’re probably thinking: “what? using blog software for a website?”.I know - it sounds a bit unconventional, but it’s true.

I think that most users do not realize the value and flexibility that Blogger offers, including free hosting, complete customization, personalized domain options, WYSIWYG editor and more. Because Blogger is a Google product, you can also easily integrate with other Google services such as: Google Analytics, Google Docs, AdSense, Picasa and more. All of this is available free of charge while providing a simple, easy authoring environment for the small business owner.

Read More :- http://buzz.blogger.com/2011/07/you-can-do-some-amazing-things-with.html

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