Attack Of The Apps

Welcome to the second post in the Twitter Critter Series (third if you consider the original Twitter Critter Post!), focussing on the new social networking (soc-net for short) site, Twitter.  In the previous post, we saw the basics (and I mean real basic basics!) of using twitter. This week's post focuses on how you can leverage your twitter account to truly immerse in the soc-net experience.

Look Mommy I Shot That!
Networking on the web seldom involves mere textual updates of one's life. Today we can share our personal experiences with family and friends in full color, motion and sound. YouTube, Picasa, flickr and many others allow us to upload those candid moments to the web and share them with everyone.

Sharing pictures or videos on twitter can be as simple as posting the link of your photo album elsewhere (picasa, youtube, flickr, photobucket and the likes). But why resort to such 'prehistoric' methods? Twitter has spawned, or is at least supported, by many third party media upload websites. The seamless integration between your twitter account and these applications, enables, nay, empowers you with a one-touch upload and tweet functionality.

Here is the low-down on few of the third-party applications to enlighten you on the possibilities of your twitter presence.


Say Cheese!
A Picture, they say, is worth a thousand words, which is tremendously helpful when you're dealing with a 140 character limit! Some of the most popular photo upload and tweeting sites include -


twitpic
A simple no nonsense site which lets you upload photographs directly from the website or through supported phone applications. Apart from seeing the snaps that you uploaded, twitpic also lets you see what the world is uploading in real-time.



snaptweet
Snaptweet allows you to integrate your existing flickr account and tweet uploads to the Yahoo photo sharing service. You can send your latest photo or send tagged photos only or even send all emailed photos.





tweetphoto
Fairly similar to twitpic, this service allows you to tweet about your photos on twitter and facebook






Lights, Camera... Action!
If a photo is equivalent to a thousand words, one can only imagine the power of a video clip. Here are some of the top video sharing services for twitter -


twiddeo
Twiddeo lets you upload video files (mpg, wmv and avi file formats). The service also allows yout upload directly from your webcam and as well as your cellular phone (using an email based service).


vidly
Rated as the application of choice by many, this video sharing service also has an iphone application which lets you directly upload via your treasured apple phone.



12seconds
Fame may last for only 15 minutes, but it takes only 12 seconds to become famous. Record your emotions, thoughts or just what you're upto in a 12 second video clip and upload it to this site and watch it spread like wild fire across your twitter and facebook accounts!



Mix It Up!

Don't want to be restricted to just images or videos? Well then try these sites that offer multiple media tweeting support -


tweetcube
TweetCube allows you to share files on Twitter, period! Upload your images, videos, music and more and your files are automatically posted on Twitter.


mobypicture
Not to be confused with twitter's own fail whale, this whale of a photo and video upload service allows integration not only with twitter, but also other sites like facebook, flickr, youtube, blogger, wordpress and typepad (Phew!).



There you go, some really cool web-applications to add media richness to your twittering experience. So what're you waiting for? Start sharing!

The next post (which is the final one in the series) will shed some light on some great twitter clients to help you tweet from anywhere!

Previously in this series: The Twitter Critter Strikes Back!

Next in this Series: Return Of The Clients

In Praise of Google

10^100! This was the inspiration behind the identity of one of the most successful IT companies in recent history. Yes I am talking about the infamous Google Inc. Founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google, today, is a phenomenon deeply-rooted in pop-culture.

Google’s origins are akin to the start-up stories of many of its brethren. Both the founders were college students who set off to revolutionize the Tech world with their innovation, a search engine that analyzed the relationships between websites and which ranked results according to the number of times the search term appeared on a page. Their product (aptly called Google Search) soon became a preferred search engine among users across the Tech spectrum. Finding out details about anybody is as simple as Googling (A term used in most tech and social circles indicating searching for details using the Google Search Engine) that person. A simple search throws back at you more information than you bargained for!
Through a series of new product developments, acquisitions and partnerships, the company has expanded its initial search and advertising business into other areas, including web-based email, online mapping, office productivity, and video sharing, among others. 

One reason that Google has been able to carve a home for itself among the techies across the world is its anti-corporate image. Google Inc. is synonymous with a laid-back casual work-environment where employees are encouraged to work on non-project ideas as often as possible. This hippyisque attitude of the company, in the age of suits, has largely appealed to the techie populous, which has grown up on the philosophy, ‘Live and Let Live!’. It seems ironical that a corporate entity actually generates huge sums of revenue when it in fact promotes such a non-capitalistic ideal!  

Google Inc.’s work culture, albeit criticized, is perhaps the most envied by every newbie techie. Casual dress code, flexible hours, fully stocked restaurant-style cafeterias, a pet welcome policy, video games, the list just goes on! No wonder, they have one of the most stringent placement programs known!
Google has succeeded in burrowing a hole in all our web-based requirements. Right from the Search engine, to Office software (Google Docs), to planners (Google Calender), to Maps (Google Earth), to imaging tools (Picasa), to Email (Gmail!), Google has left no stone in the cyber-world unturned. 

With a mission statement that reads “To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful”, Google, with its wide array of products and services, is certainly going to continue breaking new ground in the IT Universe.