(Updated) : Twitter suspends UberTwitter and Twidroyd for policy violations. Who's next?

You read the headline right , Uber Twitter and Twidroyd users were unable to login to their twitter accounts through their app as Twitter had suspended these massively popular Twitter apps. Uber Twitter and Twidroyd are both owned by Uber Media . The reason given for the suspension is with respect to usage of the Twitter trademark and ads within the app. Doesn't Twitter just hate others siphoning off money without telling it.
Uber Media is also in the process of acquiring Tweetdeck and Echofon. Hopefully it won't do the same mistakes as now.

Update : (21/02/2011) :
Twitter released this statement today morning:

“We’ve given the developers of twidroyd and UberSocial for Blackberry (formerly UberTwitter) access to the Twitter API again. Our initial review indicates that steps have been taken to remedy the violations for these applications.

When the developer updates twidroyd and Ubersocial, you’ll be able to download their updates to access Tweets again on these applications.”

Looks like things are heading back to normal now.

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Cricket World Cup is Here- Google Doodle

We have written about the World Cup before. Today the World Cup is going to start with first match between India and Bangladesh-both of them are host nations. Google has doodled (I made that up :D) about cricket world cup this morning. Look for yourselves below.

The Doodle shows a picture of a batsman trying to play a shot. The background is the view from the stumps on the pitch. As you can see there is nothing flashy or too decorative. But lets enjoy those on the Cricket pitch right?
The World Cup will kick off today from Dhaka,Bangladesh. However the host nations include India and Sri Lanka also. In the run-up to the tournament, India and South Africa are considered to be the favorites to win the coveted trophy. Australia will be defending the World Cup and trying to win the Cup for a record fifth time. We wish all the teams the very best on their road to glory.
Definitely we will be watching the Cricket World Cup but not silently.

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Google wants those Delicious Bookmarks !!

Are you a Delicious user? Want to export all your precious bookmarks which cared to collect for all these years? No worries Google is here to help you out. The official Twitter account of Google tweeted yesterday informing about the new Delicious import tool which imports all the bookmarks from Delicious to Google Bookmarks.

Indeed a smart move from Google considering the vast number of bookmarked links in Delicious systems. With the "deal" to buy/sell Delicious is still under wraps but Google is not waiting for the lines to be drawn. Delicious already being put on sale ,according to a leaked Yahoo confidential paper, has been losing a lot of its users who are fearing the service may shut down any day. Delicious was previously being linked to a buy offer from Digg. However that deal broke down when leaked reports showed that Yahoo wanted to "sunset" Delicious services. There is definitely no doubt that Delicious is not seeing much green off late.
We do hope Delicious will get a honourable exit rather than a harsh shunting from the Yahoo family. 

Have you used Delicious? Will you import those bookmarks to Google bookmarks?

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New Photo Viewing in Facebook

Facebook has started rolling out a new way of showing the pictures.
Basic Look - As soon as you click on a photo it does not reload the page like before, however, you get a pop up with black background in which the photo is embedded. Along with the photo ,the usually section-comments,tags,share et al also exists. Check the picture below to see how it might look.

As you can see your screen will be engulfed by black background. The effect  is very irritating when the picture is taken in a vertical angle- Then the picture will be padded with black background which makes it very bad. Though some pictures do suit the black background, for large majority of the photos the new feature fails to impress the user.
The good thing about the newly introduced feature is that you don't have to reload the page to see the picture, the picture is enlarged in a pop up when you click it. You can still click on the photo to move to the next photo else you could use the arrows given to move back and forth through the album.
The reception of the new feature has been against it ( same as when Facebook released the news feed column). However it is unlikely that the new feature will be withdrawn so soon. Having the largest collection of photos online, Facebook must really look into the uneasiness created to the users by this new feature. By the viral revolt against the viewer has already started.
Gyan:  If you want to see the pics the old way then right click on the photo and open the photo in new tab or window. Enjoy the picture in white background :)
Thanks to Karthik V and Prashanth HS for the tip-off.

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GATE 2011 Answer key

Having written GATE I was desperate to check my score.

Yeah right.

While the credibility of the following sites are doubtful , you can get an approximate estimate of your score. Some answers seem to be off target... especially the fuel efficiency problem(personal opinion) and some other aptitude questions.

Nevertheless, Best of luck!

• Gateforum  
• Fresher hub (Has various GATE EC versions)

Oh and for all those interested in knowing how percentiles are calculated , its 

P= ((T-R) / R) x 100 

where P=Percentile, T=Total number of candidates, and R=All India Rank

Read more on it at ehow .

Cheers!

P.S : If you want you can share your experiences/observations of GATE 2011 in the comments section

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Google Says Happy Valentine's Day along with Robert Indiana

This Valentines Day Google is displaying a Doodle based on the designs of renowned "Love" artist Robert Indiana. Checkout the doodle below. This is one of the first doodle in months which is not interactive.

However as far as my knowledge goes this is the first time Google is displaying their symbol differently. The redesign can be regarded as the work of Robert Indiana.
I guess everyone has heard enough of Valentine's Day already. Robert Indiana is a pop culture artist who is mainly famous for the way he depicts certain words. Some of the famous works include the depiction of the word "LOVE" ,EAT ,Hug and especially for Barack Obama's Presidential Campaign - "HOPE". His works are so popular that even the US stamps carry them from 1973 as part of their "love series". Below are some of his works.

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GeoHot Raps about Sony after getting Sued

Geo Hot the famous(or infamous) hacker is again in the news. Back in January he got sued by Sony for publishing the private keys pertaining to PS3 jail-breaking. However after putting the keys on his site then, he made it clear that he won't be trying to hack the PS3 system completely but published the keys in order to help others who were interested in jail-breaking the Sony console. Revealing the keys to everyone on the internet did'nt go so well with Sony. Hence they sued and him and were successful in getting restraining orders against Geo Hot. 

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Roooneeyyy!!!

The Manchester Derby today was spectacular match. The teams were evenly matched on paper (actually Manchester City are better) and there was not a better time to win a match for either team. At this crucial stage of the Barclay's premier league , this derby match was the best opportunity for either team to show some champion stuff. 

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Half Century !

They say that 50 posts is just a stat. 

But being mad about stats , this milestone is of significance to me. We have reached for an audience larger than expected, and we haven't yet implemented some core ideas ! I feel that The Silent Watchers has loads of potential. Hope all of you stay and support us. 

Thank you .

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Happy Birthday Thomas Alva Edison

Today is the 164th birthday of Thomas Alva Edison. He is held in high regard for his numerous inventions ,one of which is the incandescent bulb, which some still use. Google has put out a doodle to celebrate this day with the following doodle.


The Doodle shows the drawings which include that of a Electrical Printing instrument,Electric Bulb, music recorder , Phonogram , Picture capture ( or camera) and others. These are just 7 of the many inventions this great man has done in his lifetime. 

However he is supposed to be the one of the person who have not been awarded the Nobel Prize in any field. Also Alva Edison has an infamous feud with another inventor who goes by the name Nikola Tesla.

Famous quotes by Edison :

"If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward"

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Google Sign-in Becomes more secure

Starting from today Google have started rolling out a new security feature for all Gmail users. It is called as 2-step verification process. It definitely makes it more difficult for anyone to get around into your email account. But it wouldn't be a nice idea to lose your mobile phone along with your email account password.

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Google Doodle : Steer a Submarine

It is very generous to identify people who have influenced our lives very much and honor them on the Internet. Google are at it again through their Doodles . Today they are changing their logo to look like the front view from an artistic ocean (or more like goggles of a sea diver) in honor of Jules Verne. Again Google has used HTML5 to implement the Doodle thereby showcasing their support for this emerging technology.

A small history lesson. Jules Verne is a French author who wrote science-fiction. His best known novels include Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), A Journey to the Center of the Earth(1864), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). However he is highly reputed for the reason that he wrote about air,under water and space travel in a time when they were not practically used. For this reason they also regard him as one of the "Fathers of Science Fiction". 


More about the doodle. It is essentially showing the ocean from the front of a submarine. Due to the use of HTML5 we are able to move the view up,down,left and right. As you go from the top to the bottom we find the different fish being portrayed. Though the left to right movement is very limited , the movement from top to bottom is pretty good. Nevertheless one of the best ways to remember the great Jules Verne.

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De Ghuma Ke

We mentioned earlier about the Cricket World Cup which is going to be held in India later this month. Today we  have the World Cup anthem. The Anthem titled 'De Ghuma Ke' is composed by the famous music directors trio - Shankar-Ehsan-Loy . Listen to the song below

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Guest Post: Counter-Strike Guide for Newbies

You can read the prologue to this post here. Counter strike 1.6 is kind of old game. But not surely like age of mythology. And mark these words Cheat codes won’t work. And for all who feels this game is out dated. There is newer version of this game "Counter Strike Source”.

Back to CS 1.6, this game needs Team play, strategy, dexterity and mainly practice and knowledge about the game. Practice without Knowledge and Knowledge without Practice makes u a noob. (Noob means amateur player). There are lots of professionals (termed as pro) over there who can “headshot” you from a distance. So learn this game offline before playing online. But according to me mastering this game is not easy. To play this game first should know the map, know the weapons, know your surroundings and you should know when to reload and when to hide. Team play counts more when you play in De_maps (bomb defuse/plant maps). These are some famous maps you may have to know - cs_assault,aa_dima, de_dust, de_dust 2, de_nuke, de_aztec. These are just the famous ones. But a huge collection of maps are available.

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1984 won't be like 1984

Back in 1984 when personal computers were not an essential household item but that was to change. The change started with Apple Inc. (no it was not Microsoft). As always Steve Jobs knew how to catch everyone's attention even in the starting era of computers. They released an Ad which played during the break of Super Bowl marketing the unknown gem which was going to be showcased to the world - Macintosh. And they were right 1984 won't be like 1984, anymore. In short Macintosh started the change in world of personal computing.

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Here comes the World Cup!

The much talked about world cup starts this month, February 19th to be specific ,in the sub-continent (except in terrror prone pakistan). The cricket fever is getting better and better ( rather worse and worse) .People are recalling their or their team’s world-cup memories as if it happened just day before yesterday. The media is going really crazy about this mega event ( they got to be so, right) , so much so that even our own dearest child ‘ IPL ‘ has been forgotten , to certain extent ( except some crazy club followers ), leave alone other games .

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Is Bing stealing from Google !?

Well... Yes and no.

Swalpa background : Google Fellow Amit Singhal claimed this morning that Bing was simply siphoning off results from Google. Of course he had to show proof field this. So this is what he did.
He finds  a search term that returns no matches for either site , make a " honeypot " page manually appear for the term , then he had some Google employees make the search (and click the top link ) using Internet Explorer with both Suggested Sites and the Bing Toolbar on. Within two weeks , Singhal found that about 7 to 9 of the 100 or so " honeypot " results were popping up in Bing. Coincidence? The results matched for bizarre words  like mbrzxpgjys , hiybbprqag , and indoswiftjobinproduction .


Why did we say no as well? That's because the 'sting' was run with Bing's toolbar and  Suggested Search feature activated, which MS explicitly says are used to collect data and improve services. And more popular search terms do return different results(which is the reason many return to Google ;) ) 
So this one looks like a don't-use-us-to-improve-yourself from Google. Microsoft will probably come up with a counter attack . Watch out for some fireworks !




Siphoned from engadget ;)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

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Encounter the world of Counter Strike!

Counter Strike 1.6 is a tactical FPS game (oh come on, you donno what FPS means? Go Google it :P ).Counter Strike  was developed by Valve and released onto Steam for PC.

Counter-Strike divides players into teams of terrorists and counter terrorists. Equal number of players on both sides makes the game more interesting.

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