Over the past couple of years the free TwitterFeed service has been developed to allow users the ability to automatically update Twitter, Statusnet, Hellotxt, Facebook, and LinkedIn. This is made possible by the user submitting a single RSS feed; whenever a new item is added, the selected social network is updated.

Clearly there are considerable advantages in this, not least in saving time. In addition, various settings allow the user to determine the frequency of the updates, which URL shortening service to use and even allow you to prefix and suffix posts, useful if you regularly use the same hashtag.

Identifying Your RSS Feed

To begin using Twitterfeed, you will need to first identify an RSS feed. This might be the RSS feed from your blog, or even from your Twitter account if you wish this to be used to update other services.

Typically a browser will inform you of whether a website has an RSS feed available by displaying the familiar orange icon with three curved lines in the address bar. Alternatively, most websites display their RSS feed via an icon or link that you can click on to view.

With the RSS feed identified and selected, you will be ready to begin using Twitterfeed.

Setting Up an Account and Signing In

The developers at Twitterfeed are keen for as many people as possible to use their service; as a result, they have made it very easy to sign in. If you visit http://twitterfeed.com/ you will find several options to access the service. There is a choice of signing up on the website itself (via the Don’t have an account yet? link) or using OpenID and signing in with a Google, Yahoo, Blogger, AOL, WordPress.com or of course an OpenID login.

Once your credentials are authenticated you will be ready to start!

Creating a New Twitterfeed

Upon signing in you will be taken to your Feed Dashboard. From here you can create and manage any feeds that you set up – begin by clicking the Create New Feed button if the website doesn’t take you to that screen automatically.

The first thing you will need to do is give the feed a name so that you can recognise it in the Feed Dashboard. Once you’ve done this, paste in the URL for the RSS feed, and click the Test RSS feed button to check it.

Below this you will find the Advanced Settings option where you can determine how often Twitterfeed polls for updates to the RSS feed (and therefore sends updates to your chosen social network) as well as specify whether links are included, which service is used to shorten them, and any words to include as a prefix or suffix.

Once you’re happy, continue to Step 2, where the service you wish to send your RSS feed to can be selected. Twitter, Statusnet, Hellotxt, Facebook and LinkedIn are all available, although each must be setup individually; if you want to send the same RSS feed to multiple social networks, you’ll need to use the Edit option. Similarly you can also send different RSS feeds to the same social network.

When your selection is made you will be asked to authenticate with the chosen service, so enter your username and password, add any tags that you consider useful and then click Create Service.

You’re all done – Twitterfeed should soon start sharing your RSS feed with the chosen service as an update. To get an idea of how effective this is, check my Twitter account below where the majority of updates are posted in this way.

Setup a Facebook Feed

Twitterfeed can be used to setup a feed that will update a Facebook account. Of course, there are many ways in which this can be done within Facebook itself, although Twitterfeed is a useful alternative as it doesn’t require a Facebook app. Additionally, Twitterfeed can be used to update Facebook Pages that you have created.

In order to take advantage of this option, when you reach the second step of the process select Facebook and then authenticate using the Connect with Facebook button. Once you have done this a drop-down list of Facebook Pages will be displayed and it is an easy task to choose the one you want to update and click Create Service to finish.

Why Not Try Twitterfeed Yourself?

There are many ways in which Twitterfeed can be used to furnish social networks with your updates, whether they come from a Twitter account (where the page URL can be used to determine the RSS feed) or from a standard website feed.

Ultimately, this is a time-saving service, one that can be used to great effect by anyone using multiple social networks who wish to update regularly. It can also be used by websites and blogs wishing to extend their reach into social networking.

Other highlights of the release include Mac OS X Lion support, with Firefox for OS X now featuring a two-finger swipe gesture for navigating between websites. Also new for the Mac version is an enhanced Lion-friendly user interface, which also makes surfing the web with multiple monitors more straightforward.

Android users will also see an update to the browser’s mobile edition, with the latest release taking advantage of tablets and their increased screen size. The browser has now been optimized for tablet devices, with support for swiping, a tablet-friendly UI and new HTML5 form validation.

The desktop version has been given plenty of tweaks under the hood as well. Detecting a user’s Do Not Track preference using JavaScript is now possible and support for CSS, HTML5 and MathML has been improved. For the full list of changes, check out the Firefox 9 release notes.

Download: Firefox Desktop (Windows, Mac & Linux) @ Mozilla.org
Download: Firefox for Android @ Android Market

Source & Image: Mozilla Blog

So is this finally the end for IE6? Not entirely, but it certainly warrants a web-developer party. While big organizations, and even individual users, will have the ability to opt out of the update, the fact that it’s really automatic will surely bring the updated versions to multiple users who are still using older versions.

The change will roll out in Australia and Brazil in January, and will gradually be expanded to other countries. As usual, user preferences such as the home page and default search provider will not be changed. The update will simply install the latest version available for the user’s OS.

This certainly seems like excellent news, both for users and for Microsoft. While IE9 might be quite a good web browser, its name is constantly marred by older versions of IE which are constantly floating around, refusing to leave the scene. This should make life easier for everyone, including Microsoft itself, who has Google Chrome breathing down its neck.

What do you think? Will this change things for Internet Explorer, or is it too little too late?

Source: Geek.com

The new version brings three major changes – faster and better photo viewing, access to notifications from the main screen, and a sidebar which provides access to all your friends, pages, groups, etc. You can also use it to access your Facebook apps and games on the go.

According to Facebook, photos and albums are now twice as fast as they used to be. The interface has also changed completely, providing a nice black background for viewing, along with easier buttons for comments and likes, and tags on top of the photos.

The left sidebar resembles the one from Facebook’s iPad app, and along with easier navigation also provides easier search through all your friends, statuses, pages, etc. The notification bar, which hasn’t actually changed, was simply added to the main news feed page, which makes it easier to view notifications and chat without losing your place in the news feed. According to Facebook, those of us with timeline profiles should also see their timelines integrated into the app, but I haven’t seen mine yet.

So what do you think of the update? Too little too late, or is this exactly what Android users have been waiting for?

Get Facebook 1.8 for Android 1.5+ here.

Source: Facebook Blog

The next addition in this update is the inclusion of a full screen mode. This takes all of the background stuff on your iOS device off the screen and allows you to better focus on only what you are reading. This is a great addition with the new notification center in iOS 5 because there is lot more going on the screen. Going into full screen mode makes it easier to ignore all that.

Apple also added a lot of new fonts, so if you have a particular typeface you like to read in, there is a good chance it is there. Apple added fonts such as Athelas, Charter, Iowa, and Seravek. I prefer to stick with the standard font, but if these fonts are your cup of tea, I’m sure you will love this update.

The last features are improvements to the annotation palate and some new covers for books available in the public domain. These changes are more minor, but enjoyable none the less.

Get the update from the iTunes App Store.

Source: Apple Insider

The new homepage of StumbleUpon replaces the predominately text-based layout (see first screenshot below) with attractive columns of high-quality images and photos linking to topics of interests for StumbleUpon members (second screenshot).

A new “Explore Box” has also been added for making keyword and phrase searches. Unlike Google, when you do a search in StumbleUpon, you are taken directly to sites that other StumbleUpon members found interesting to recommend.

This new design is more in line with the image-driven communication of most contemporary online websites, which often means a photo can draw your attention a lot faster than single columns of text.

As you click the “Stumble!” button in the drop-down menu of the site it begins to feel like you’re browsing a museum or exposition, because each click typically takes you to some very interesting places. You can like and dislike pages you “stumble upon”, and the ones you like get bookmarked to your account.

Another new feature added to the site are Channels, which are a collection of sites, people, and brands that you might find interesting.

StumbleUpon also has a gorgeous iPad app that includes all of the features of the online website.

Source : Blogworld

The updated UI now organises options into big squares separated by multiple tabs that run along the top of the screen, amongst them a new “Social” option containing Kinect Video Chat, Facebook and Twitter. Kinect owners will be delighted to hear that this new dashboard is fully navigable using Kinect, and even includes Bing voice-activated search (“Xbox. Bing. Query”).

Bing integration only operates locally and via Microsoft’s own channels (such as Game Marketplace) and does not cover the web in general. Xbox Live Gold members will also enjoy a few other additions including a new “Apps” tab which offers different content dependent on region, including new video-on-demand and live streaming services.

Also exclusive to Xbox Live Gold members is cloud storage, allowing users to store save game data on the cloud for peace of mind and easy access. This feature will allow any user to log in on an Internet-enabled console and retrieve their personal save data.

Last but not least, Windows Phone 7 users can now enjoy greater connectivity between their phone and console. Amongst the features are Xbox Live Achievements for WP7 gamers and the sharing of music between WP7 devices and the 360 and PCs.

According to the launch team, the update is now available to everyone using the service. Microsoft’s Larry Hryb announced via Twitter ”The #XboxUpdate is currently on its way to all 35 million Xbox LIVE members around the world“.

Have you downloaded the new Xbox 360 update? Do you like it? Does Kinect and WP7 integration tickle you? Have a say below.

In addition to the predictive search feature, they have also added a new playlist search. This will allow users to find publicly available playlists from users all around the world. This is handy if you want to broaden your music horizons. As part of this, they have rolled out a buddy list feature, which allows you to see what any of your friends are listening to in real time. This is another way for users to find some new music based on what their friends like.

They have also tweaked the “Whats New” page with some cool new features. Spotify claims it is “more intuitive and a whole lot prettier.”

The last part of this new update only applies to Mac users. They have added full screen support for users with OSX Lion.

The update is not available yet, but you can download the preview build and check out all the cool new features for yourself.

Source: TheNextWeb

They have also made substantial improvements to the squad management screen. EA removed the “Find me a Squad“ button and now lets players join any squad they want, including an empty one. They also made the squad selection screen more organized and easier to navigate.

Dual monitor support is vastly improved with this new update. Some Nvidia graphics cards were experiencing issues with the games graphics, and that appears to have been addressed in this update as well.

They have improved spawn points, so you should not spawn right on top of an enemy. When you start cooking a grenade and die, the grenade no longer disappears and will drop to the ground and explode.

Overall, there are 33 updates and improvements with the patch. Check out their official blog for a more detailed breakdown of the changes.

Source: Cnet

I still use my TouchPad fairly regularly (I don’t have an iPad, that must have something to do with it) and am still of the belief that it’s a more than capable touchscreen web surfer and media device – regardless of firesale, lack of support and software issues. Let’s see what HP have been up to recently. This article assumes you have already optimized your tablet with our very own HP TouchPad setup guide part 1 and part 2 which will introduce you to Preware, patches and overclocking.

Firmware Update

The firmware update might have raised many questions amongst those of you who have overclocked using a custom kernel. If (like me) your TouchPad updated itself without as much as an Apply update? prompt then you’ll probably have noticed your kernel stopped working with the new HP software.

Those of you running Uberkernel simply need to run Preware and download the safe over-the-air (OTA) update – and you’ll want to grab the latest Govnah as well. Once you’re updated, run Govnah and choose the OnDemandTCL profile to restore your overclock. Uberkernel will always be one of the safest overclocking methods and unless you’re really out for some serious speed then I’d recommend sticking with it.

Many of the other patches mentioned in our setup guide will also require updates by now, and luckily the community has responded well with plenty of updates. Again, Preware is your friend and will take care of all your update needs.

Bugs, Issues, Problems…

Performance has been improved in 3.0.4, in fact I noticed it was running very smoothly even before patch and kernel updates. Unfortunately, bugs do still exist.

There is a sound distortion problem that sometimes occurs when the tablet is playing music or a video and automatically goes into sleep mode. Sound becomes tinny and compressed, and the only way of restoring sound is by manually pressing the Sleep button whilst playing audio or video. This is not related to Uberkernel, other kernels or any of the Preware patches but has been isolated as a firmware problem that even occurs in untouched TouchPads running 3.0.4. Similarly, some webpages cause what I can only describe as “screen tear” where images and text often suffer from random lines and gaps.

Another issue discovered not so long ago involves small cracks appearing near the speakers on many TouchPad units. This is a defect with the tablet’s design and whilst it’s fairly unsightly and not ideal, the problem doesn’t seem to affect operation of the device. If you’re concerned, try contacting HP and see what they offer you.

Apps Ahoy!

Whilst the TouchPad’s selection of apps isn’t anything to write home about, there are a few recent releases that are worthy of a download – especially for free.

Robotek HD

A delightful game that combines the thrill of slot machines with turn-based robot battles, Robotek HD is a free download for your TouchPad with optional in-app purchases. There’s a fairly lengthy single player campaign to work your way through as well as a multiplayer mode where you go head to head with other Robotek players.

Robotek HD is available for a wealth of systems including Android, iOS and Windows Phone, and it’s great to see that it made it to the TouchPad App Catalog as well.

TweetPad

At long last the TouchPad has a fairly responsive and easy to use Twitter client! Both the Twitter website and alternative app SpazHD are fairly laggy and not particularly nice to use on the tablet, and whilst TweetPad lacks features it is still a very usable Twitter client.

Still missing is the ability to view pictures and videos in tweets (without opening a new browser window) though the layout and speed of the app is great. Currently only supporting one account at a time, TweetPad has plenty of potential and already blows SpazHD out of the water.

ScummVM

ScummVM is an adventure game emulator capable of running the likes of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle and assorted other hilarious golden oldies. The TouchPad version is finally out of beta and fully operational, complete with gestures and full menu/keyboard access. You can find all the necessary instructions regarding its use in the thread mentioned below.

This is one app you won’t find in the App Catalog, and one app you will need Preware for. Simply visit this thread on the official ScummVM message boards and click the link to the .ipk package. If you have Preware installed it will automatically launch and guide you through the installation procedure.

Zinio

One of the best magazine readers finally makes it to the TouchPad! Providing access to lots of content across multiple platforms, Zinio really is one of the best ways to read magazines in the 21st century.

It’s not perfect (some users are reporting library/sync issues that need a reinstall to fix) but you do get 6 free issues for just signing up on your TouchPad – and that makes the download worthwhile.

Conclusion

The TouchPad isn’t dead yet, and it’s a relief to see some fresh development taking place. Truth be told there’s probably more active development going on in the community than on HP’s side, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

If you’re a TouchPad owner looking for a community to follow then check out PreCentral. Their HP TouchPad forum is always busy and features some great tips, discussions and is the best place to be if anything goes wrong with your device.

How are you getting on with your TouchPad? Any recent apps that you love? Still rocking Uberkernel? TouchPad owners, make yourselves heard in the comments below.