Social Media: Soon, Our Facebook Profiles Might Follow Us Offline Too

I find this really scary as well as a book l read along time a go that went as far as embedding a chip into some ones arm that was a bar code for paying for retail goods. Interesting thing about this was that l was told in this same book " sorry cannot remember title" that all bar codes when broken down have the the numbers 666 in them. That was quite alarming if it was true not tested the theory, something to do with numbering sequences, anyway this Facebook off-line is even more open to all sorts of problems with privacy as geo-locators could be hacked to find out where you are and what you are doing. This would be an ID disaster and even harder to trace than hackers on-line. Cannot wait for the comments on this little scenario ?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

China's Google Syndrome

This was a really humanatarian move by Google to close down in China and move themselves to Hong Kong as the rights of an individual should be forthright in being able to use his/her own free will to work online and obtain valuable information that should not be censored by the Chinese Government to enable their own imperialistic views to be supplanted onto their citizens and be able to change their views about the westernised world. For too long countries that have hidden behind their previous indentities but still wanted to be part of a democratic society - but only on their terms have been able to pressurise their people by coercing them into taking a stance that favours their governmental control measures and enables governments to force their views onto their everyday lives.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Google's fast pipe to Asia almost ready

Google's fast pipe to Asia almost ready: "Five undersea cables built by a consortium including Google and other telecom companies is set to start carrying traffic at any point, with Google entitled to as much as 20 percent of the capacity."

So as Google prepares to hit Asia with a storm of new internet traffic will we see the same rise in internet use of Google IT as with have in the other parts of the world.

" The Roving Giraffe News Report " provided through Ace News Service

Getting Started With Google Gmail Buzz

Getting Started With Google Gmail Buzz: "

Mark Up Your Text

Google Buzz understands some very basic text markup language. That means you can spice up your text entries on Buzz by using bold text, italics and strikethroughs. Here's what you do:

• *Make your text bold by placing an asterisk at each end of your word or sentence*
• _Using underscores at each end will italicize this Buzz comment_.
• -Use a dash at each end for a strikethrough-
• For an em--dash, just place two hyphens side--by--side

E-Mail Your Buzz

If you don't have access to a Web browser, you can still send out your buzz via e-mail using your desktop e-mail client or your mobile device. Just send your post to buzz@gmail.com from the same Gmail account that displays your Buzz activity. You can use e-mail to send photos or text.
TIP: In my tests, only the text in my e-mail subject lines was displayed from my buzzes sent via e-mail. So any text in the message body of your e-mail will not be displayed. Photo attachments should show up automatically.

Get Those Buzzes Out (of Your Inbox)

Three kinds of Buzz updates will be automatically sent to your inbox: Whenever anyone comments on a buzz created by you; when another user comments on a buzz created by someone else that you have also commented on; or when someone tags you in a Buzz through the @reply system.

Google send these notifications to you, because the company believes you'll want to be notified when things happen on Buzzes you are actively participating in. But if you find these notifications annoying, Google doesn't have an obvious way to change this behavior. So it's up to you to employ the power of Gmail filters and labels to take control of your buzzes.

Multiple Inboxes

Now that you've got the buzzes hitting your inbox under control, let's get serious about organization by using Multiple Inboxes. This is a relatively new feature in Gmail that lets you view several different sections in your Gmail inbox to make it easy to separate messages from specific people, groups or message types like buzzes.
For our purposes, we are going to add two different inboxes to your Gmail homepage: one for Buzzes created by you (labeled My Buzzes) and one for Buzzes created by others (Buzzes).

More on activating multiple inboxes here

Labels (only useful with Multiple Inboxes)

The first thing you want to do is create two labels: 'My Buzzes' and 'Buzzes.' To do this, click on the 'Labels' button at the top of your Gmail inbox and select 'Manage labels.' Scroll down to where you see a text entry box that says 'Create a new label.' Just type in the name of each label one at a time and click 'Create.' Now go back to your inbox, and it's time for part two.

More on filtering buzzes created by you

"JUST THOUGHT ANYONE READING THIS WOULD FIND IT USEFUL AND AFTER VISITING TWITTER AND FINDING PEOPLE ASKING WHO IS ON BUZZ I COULD BEGIN BROADCASTING WHAT CAN BE DONE " G

" The Roving Giraffe News Report " provided by Ace News

Uses For Buzz Mobile

Uses For Buzz Mobile: "Please add to this list of things that we will be able to use Buzz Mobile for. I will start it:

- Finding Lost pets. - You lose a pet? Simply input it in your buzz mobile with your location. Everyone in your location who searches buzz for things in that particular location will be notified of your lost pet.

- Broadcasting a Yard Sale - Having a yard sale? Simply buzz it in on your mobile, and people who are 'yardsaling' will get a direct map to your sale.

- Restaurant reviews. Buzz in a restaurant review from the the actual restaurant. Fellow buzz mobile users will be able to see the latest reviews, before they go.

- Finding the happening places in town - Not sure where to hang out tonight? Should you go downtown to a club or stay around your home and get a beer? Just check buzz mobile to see where the most excitement is happening in real time.

- Leave a note for future buzz users that come to the same location - Wanna leave a quick note so someone knows something about a certain animal at the zoo, or a certain meal at a restaurant, or the best seat to watch a game at a bar? Just buzz it on your mobile.

- Meet neighbors you never know you had - This is going to be huge. You will be able to see what your neighbors are doing. You will learn a ton about them, and probably realize you have a lot in common with some people you've never met. Maybe the guy that lives 2 houses down goes to your gym, or works in the same neighborhood as you. Perhaps you will find car pooling buddies.

- Find study partners at school (college) - You might have a class where you would like to find a study partner for the upcoming exam. Simply post that you are studying for your History 101 Exam from your location, and you might just find the perfect study partner in a dorm nearby.

"JUST JOINED THEIR SITE FORUM TO GET ALL THE GOSSIP SO MORE SOON- G

" The Roving Giraffe News Report " provided through Ace News Service

Social Faceoff: Google Buzz vs. Facebook vs. Twitter

Social Faceoff: Google Buzz vs. Facebook vs. Twitter

An interesting thought what would you use - me l use twitter for my tweeting and articles/comments with Facebook for sending news clips and interesting articles that may help people reading my Facebook page. Only tried GoogleBuzz once and still in early stages but would use more as a one to one whereby l follow they follow and just chat.

Check out Mashable and start buzzing yourself l have and will provide my feedback in due course. I am now GBuzz or GB what about you?

" The Roving Giraffe News Report " provided through Ace News Service

Why Web Developers Should Switch to Google Chrome

Why Web Developers Should Switch to Google Chrome: "

Check out Chrome 4’s great new features for developers, such as cross-platform support, awesome web inspector integration, and handy new extensions. It’s becoming more and more difficult to deny Chrome the title as the new browser for web developers. If it’s not quite there yet, it will be soon!

Introduction

With quick load times, a snappy JavaScript engine, solid WebKit foundation, and big-name backing, Google Chrome has been gaining a respectable market share, even surpassing Safari to become the 3rd most popular browser in December. For developers, however, Firefox has been the sweetheart of many due to its ability to run on any operating system and because of its rich offering of web development add-ons, such as Firebug and the Web Developer Toolbar. But it’s important to test JavaScript in all browsers, and having a robust set of tools in each (including Internet Explorer), is precisely what developers need to make the most of their code.

Lucky for us, the Google folks have been working hard to make Chrome cross-platform, integrate WebKit’s fantastic Web Inspector, and add extensions, making Chrome 4 an amazingly useful tool for web development. In this tutorial, I’ll demonstrate some of the features that make Chrome 4 a great addition to the web developer utility belt.

Downloading Chrome 4

As of January 25, Chrome 4 has been officially released as stable for Windows. Mac and Linux users, however, we have to be a bit more brave in order to experience all that Chrome 4 has to offer. Mac users need to download the “dev” version, and Linux users the “beta” version, and it’s highly worth it! Check out the following links to get a copy of Chrome for your operating system that supports everything we’ll discuss in this article:

• Windows – Chrome 4 Stable
• Mac – Chrome 4 Dev Channel
• Linux – Chrome 4 Beta

Web Inspector (aka Developer Tools)

Now let’s get into the nitty gritty! In Firefox, Firebug is a godsend for developers, providing a debugging console, HTML & CSS manipulation, JavaScript profiling, and a whole lot of other goodness. The WebKit folks took notice and over the last couple of years have been perfecting a set of tools called the Web Inspector, which offers a similar set of features to Firebug. Within Chrome 4, the Web Inspector is labeled “Developer Tools.”

Accessing the Web Inspector/Developer Tools

In addition to Chrome 4, the Web Inspector has been in action for a while from within previous versions of Chrome and Safari, although it’s a bit hidden. To access the Web Inspector in various browsers:

Safari 4

• Select “Edit > Preferences” (Windows) or “Safari > Preferences” (Mac)
• Select the “Advanced” tab
• Check “Show Develop Menu in menu bar”
• A new menu item, “Develop,” will appear
• Select “Develop > Show Web Inspector”

Chrome 3 (Windows only)

• Select the Wrench
• Select Developer
• Select JavaScript Console (the whole range of tools are hidden under this name)

Chrome 4

• Windows / Linux: Select the Page Icon > Developer > Developer Tools
• Mac: Select View > Developer > Developer Tools

JavaScript Console

If you haven’t worked with the Firebug or Web Inspector console, then you’re missing out on a great way to help debug JavaScript. The JavaScript console serves several important functions, such as capturing errors and presenting them in a useful format, testing short bits of JavaScript, and as a convenient place to log useful information like variable values and execution times. Practically speaking, I use this tool regularly to evaluate the performance of my programs and to ensure that certain variables are being calculated correctly.

Elements Panel

In addition to the JavaScript console, it’s always nice to have a tool that allows you to quickly view the HTML and style information of particular elements on the page. The Web Inspector Elements panel gives a tree-structure view of the Document Object Model (DOM), allowing you to drill down into the document to select an item of interest. You can also access the information of a certain object by right clicking on an item within the browser and selecting “Inspect Element.”

Finally, I should note that the Elements panel allows for much more than simple inspection. You can modify and add styles, edit html, and in the latest versions, view event listeners attached to a selected DOM element. These features can all come in very handy when you’re dealing with little quirks that you can’t quite figure out.

Resources

The last feature I’d like to highlight within the Web Inspector/Developer Tools is the “Resources” tab. If you’ve worked with Firebug’s “Net” tab, then you’ll notice several similarities. Essentially, the Resources tab gives a breakdown of all the information that is exchanged between your browser and the server, from the images to the JavaScript to the document itself. It also shows a ton of handy information, such as:

• A graph of the time it takes to download each component
• A graph showing the size of the various components
• A way to sort the requests by type, e.g. Documents, Stylesheets, Images, etc.
• Image previews with dimensions, file size, and MIME type displayed below
• Request and Response Headers
• XML HTTP Request (XHR) information

An elegant tool that allows for easy inspection of page speed, the Resources tab can aid you in identifying and squashing performance bottlenecks. Give it a try and see where your page is too fat, then slim down your chunky images and code to provide a better experience for your users!

Further Reading

A complete overview of the Web Inspector/Developer Tools could easily be a tutorial on it’s own, but we have more ground to cover! I highly recommend checking out the following resources to learn more:

• Video demos of the Developer Tools from the Google folks themselves hosted at the Chromium Projects Wiki!
• A step by step walk through of the Developer Tools, also available from the Chromium Wiki
• A rundown of the latest Web Inspector Features from the Surfin Safari blog (thanks goes out to Timothy Hatcher, one of the Web Inspector developers, for the link!)

Extensions

Now, while I’ve always been blown away by the speed of Safari 4 and Chrome as compared to Firefox, they’ve both lacked a critical feature: add-ons. In Chrome 4, that all changes with the addition of “extensions.” You can add functionality to Chrome by downloading and installing extensions or by using the standard tools of the trade: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, to write your own. Extensions can be downloaded from the Chrome Extensions Repository, and should be fairly simple to install. Already, a number of very compelling extensions have been created which aid web development, from quick validation to resolution testing. Let’s take a look at a few.

Speed Tracer

A web developer can never really be obsessed enough with performance, and the more tools that identify sluggish performance the better. That’s just where Speed Tracer, a Chrome extension developed by Google, comes into play. Speed Tracer takes the “Resources” panel to the next level by providing a visualization of the time it takes to execute low-level tasks, such as rendering CSS or parsing HTML and JavaScript. I’d highly recommend taking a look at a video demonstration of Speed Tracer put together by the folks at Google to get a better idea of how it can help you improve the performance of your applications.

Pendule

Moving from Firefox to Chrome, one extension everyone is going to look for is a replacement of the fantastic Web Developer Toolbar. For those who don’t know, the Web Developer Toolbar deals with the tasks Firebug wasn’t meant to handle, such as quick validation of HTML and CSS, the ability to quickly disable JavaScript or images, and a tool for checking links. Those functions are all handled with style by Pendule, which offers much of the core functionality of the Web Developer Toolbar (not quite all), while offering a few goodies of it’s own, such as a color picker.

Resolution Test

Web Developers often need to ensure that their designs work at a variety of resolutions. Resolution Test allows developers to efficiently resize their browser window to a number of common resolutions for quick and easy testing. The latest version even allows you to open multiple windows at different resolutions with only a couple of clicks. Resolution Test is fantastic for making sure your target audience is seeing the page you want them to see.

Webpage ScreenShot

There are occasions when its necessary not only to grab a screenshot of the current visible portion of a website, but a screenshot of the whole page. For example, you may want to print a full page for peer critical review or to demonstrate in your portfolio. I formerly used a Desktop tool for this, but now Webpage ScreenShot does a nice job of capturing full-page screenshots in a few clicks.

Chrome Sniffer

Do you ever stumble upon a fantastic page and wonder, “what are they using to build this?” I do, and often find myself digging through the source code trying to figure out who the man behind the curtain is. While it is a useful training exercise, and a necessary one if you really want to know what’s going on, Chrome Sniffer can usually give you a snapshot of which JavaScript and PHP frameworks are in use for a particular page. For example, navigate to NetTuts and Chrome Sniffer informs us that it’s run on Wordpress using Google Analytics and jQuery.

Conclusion

The future of web development continues to look brighter and brighter! While only a few years ago we had a limited set of tools for debugging JavaScript, tinkering with CSS, and viewing HTML, today we have a variety of powerful options. Now that Google Chrome has become cross platform, fully integrated the WebKit Web Inspector, and added extensions, it is a versatile tool for helping developers improve their own pages. I encourage all of you to download a copy for yourself and give it a shot to see if it can help you improve your pages, then come on back here and share your favorite plugins and tools with the rest of us!

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"My Comments are simple using Google Chrome has been the best move l ever made and it has helped my life no end by adding google-gears and indexing my files. I would suggest you sync bookmarks and they are more organised.

" The Roving Giraffe News Report " provided through Ace News Service