It’s no secret how popular social networking sites have become over the past few years. Testament to this is the meteoric rise in the number of users of Facebook. I mention this because it is the only reason I can think of why Google would want to come up with something similar by creating Buzz – literally.

To Gmail users reading this, you probably already heard of Buzz, or encountered it when you opened your Gmail accounts starting last week. Buzz is Google’s answer to Facebook. It is a social networking tool that allows users to connect with their friends, loved ones and acquaintances by relying on the principle that your email contacts, especially the ones you send messages to the most, are also the ones you would want to keep in touch with on a social basis; and much like Facebook, it works by allowing you to post status messages, upload photos, links and the like to share with this network of people.

If you think about it, Google was actually working on a really good premise by allowing email contacts to interact with each other. After all, that’s how you usually find your friends on Facebook too, aside from the Friend Finder method. One of Facebook’s chief tools for helping you find friends is by importing your contacts list from your primary email accounts.

The problem, however, that cropped up in the first week of its release was that Gmail users who were introduced to Buzz (and let me emphasize here, usually without really wanting to use it, because Buzz is integrated with Gmail and if you want to check your Inbox or send a message off to someone, Buzz is right there, a colorful little tab in your left hand panel, attached, bonded and packaged with Gmail) found out that they were now following email contacts or were being followed by said email contacts automatically!

Definitely an issue of privacy. Why so? This is because Gmail assumes that the people you email automatically pass your privacy screening standards, and doesn’t ask for confirmation of whether you want to follow or be followed by them. A big no-no for people who keep a contact list over email whom they don’t want to interact with socially – like bosses, or clients and the like. It also exposes your contacts to each other, allowing say, a boss to find out that you are also in contact with, say, a rival company.

Now, I can easily say that I don’t have to use Buzz, even as I’m using Gmail because I can just ignore it and let it sit its colorful bubble on my left side panel, but the fact that it exists, and that it does some things automatically that I am not yet aware of or prepared for is an issue for me. Hey, I didn’t sign up for it like I did Facebook and it being integrated in my mail automatically doesn’t fly well with me.

I would rather that Google had advised its users of the introduction of Buzz before actually launching it and providing users with the option to either agree to integrate Buzz into their Gmail accounts or reject it, leave it out of Gmail but give them an option to reintegrate their social networking tool at a later time. The fact that it’s integrated with email can be a big advantage over having separate accounts, but if that’s the case, users should have the freedom to choose to integrate or not, depending on how users actually utilize their social networking pages and the degree of privacy that they require, which, if you think about it is really the issue of utmost importance here.

To Google’s credit, after getting negative feedback over privacy issues in Buzz, the company has already begun to address issues of privacy control and are now working on ways to make Buzz a better companion to its infinitely better email counterpart.

A Netbook Like No Other: Apple Launches the iPad

“Our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.”  Or at least, that’s what the boys over at Apple claim their new product is, and for all the anticipation and excitement and mystery that has surrounded the development of the iPad leading up to it’s January 27 launch in San Francisco, I’ve got to say, this new device seems to be living up to most of users expectations.

I’ve been listening to tech gurus all over the world predicting the future of technology and intuitively visualizing a trend that sees the perfect merger of smart phone and laptop technologies somewhere down the line. For most people, this combination embodies itself in the netbook, a sized-down laptop with most of the capabilities of a smartphone – e-mails, mobile web browsing, and most can even make phone calls out of their netbooks.

Ideally, this seems to be the perfect technology – a light, carry-anywhere device that let’s you do plenty of things even while you are mobile. There’s a catch though. Netbooks simply aren’t better at the things that smartphones and laptops can do individually. They’re slow, clunky pieces of equipment that I would personally hurl into the air in frustration – and believe me, I’ve come quite close to doing that.

But just when I thought I’d be doomed to eternal frustration with the slew of netbooks out in the market today, here comes Apple with its revolutionary new device – the iPad.For a device that’s supposed to fall under the netbook category, it sure looks nothing like one. Picture an oversized 9.75-inch iPhone or iPod Touch and you’ve got a perfect idea of what an iPad looks like. It has a slim, half-an inch thick body, an aluminum and glass enclosure, which Apple claims is environment friendly, and a gorgeous TFT display.

Need we talk about the power that Apple puts behind all its products? With stunning display, a new custom-built A4 chip, an awesome accelerometer and ultra-responsive multi-touch screen, the iPad is built to have techies like me drooling like a Pavlovian dog at mere sight. How’s that for visually stimulating?

For me, it’s tablet, touch screen format is a draw. There’s nothing like holding such a powerful tool right in your hands, and its touch screen feature makes me feel like I am truly in control of the device – a very interactive feeling. And at a starting price of low starting price for the 16GB Wi-Fi model, the iPad will definitely be an instant bestseller.

Many critics will probably dismiss the iPad as a bigger version of the iPhone, but I beg to disagree. Once those critics have got one on their hands, I bet they’ll all be turning tail and wagging in the opposite direction. Steve Jobs and the boys over at Apple have once again done something truly revolutionary, and I must say that this Apple fan will definitely be adding a new member to her Apple family.

So Christmas has been and gone… it’s back to work and a chance to show off what tech gadgets you got at Christmas. There has been some cool stuff out and about and the January sales have been excellent.

If you missed out, our advice is…. lie.

Tell your work colleages you got something from our “techy-top five cool xmas gadget list”   (sheesh I can hardly even type that let alone say it)

Number 5 Nintendo DSI
A cool present indeed. But was it bought for you or do you have to share it?  They also come in pink

Number 4 The Vodafone MiFi
A cool present indeed, for around $499 you and four buddies can share a mobile internet connection… it’s like you have you own personal WiFi.  imagine how popular you’re going to be!

Number 3 Sony Ericsson U1i Satio
Sony are bringing out their new  Android phone in a few months  but some people just can’t wait….enter the “Satio”. Powered by their Symbian S60T operating system we think it’s quite an awesome cool phone. The Satio features a 3.5″ full touch Screen, 3G HSUPA, WIFI & GPS and is powered by the Symbian S60 T operating system.

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Number 2        The “ALT of CTRL”  T-shirt
Becuase we know some one that got one in the office and it really is true that they are out of control.They proudly wore it today and told me it was very reasonably priced.

The Number 1 Top Tech gadget for Christmas 2009 has been… The  Apple iPhone 3GS   32G Black ….faster, sleeker, better battery, it’s a cool upgrade from your old model and has been the model of choice.

If you love Google and are developing in C++ or Python; the latest development from Google is proberly going to be of great interest. So what is Go? well, it’s an open source language it’s live right now and it’s in a completely experimental stage.

Go will provide the security and performance of a compilled language like C++ while having the speed of a dynamic language like Python.

Go - The latest Google open source language

Who is Go aimed at?

Google describes GO as ” Go is an experiment. We hope adventurous users will give it a try and see if they enjoy it. Not every programmer will, but we hope enough will find satisfaction in the approach it offers to justify further development” You can find more information about GO at Golang.org which is the official site for the open source language.”

Google is using this language internally so this is a good testament. But, what will external users think of it?

Google describes Go in thier recent blog

“Go attempts to combine the development speed of working in a dynamic language like Python with the performance and safety of a compiled language like C or C++. In our experiments with Go to date, typical builds feel instantaneous; even large binaries compile in just a few seconds. And the compiled code runs close to the speed of C. Go is designed to let you move fast. We’re hoping Go turns out to be a great language for systems programming with support for multi-processing and a fresh and lightweight take on object-oriented design, with some cool features like true closures and reflection.”

Watch the video for more information about Google GO.. or check out GO for yourself

Google Wave is proving popular, what, you have’nt started to use it yet?

So, you’re already using social media, email and trying to share documents online between groups of people then you should check it out. Wave is likely to be able to rid you of issues of where-did-that-email-go-i-can’t-find-it-in-inbox-folder-sent-sheesh syndrome.

If you have not used Wave before it is It is a web application and computing platform that is designed to bring together your -mail, IM, wiki, and social networking, there’s a strong collaborative focus, mixed with spellchecker and some translator extensions, which are all able to work in real-time.

So if you’re a coding or desiging for a client and you’re using email as the primary communication tool and it’s going back and forth to communicate, you’re losing time waiting for the mail to come through, finding that you’re unable to decipher the ammendments, starting multiple threads its going to jeopordise the quality and standard of work.

Google Wave is prooving to be an ideal choice for

- remote brainstorming sessions
- meeting notes and data sharing
- projects, group projects, freelance projects
- interactive games

Ask any IT freelancer webdesigner about a project they had and why it wasn’t succesful the answer you are given is likely th to inlcude include poor customer/client mis-communications. Wave is proving to be a good option, view the video we found that cuts through the bloat to give you the overview you need.

Google Wave: The quick guide and explanation

“Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more” - Google

It’s amazing to find that email has been in the same format more or less for 40 years which also shares the same year that the lava lamp was invented. Are you using Wave in the workplace ?< >< ><-->

There are approximately 68 million .COM domains registered today compared to around 400,000 nz domains you can see that .com still reigns supreme

But if there are over 68 million domain names out on the Internet  many are just parked in some obsolete spot gathering dust and all kinds of age. There is a growing number of domainers that either buy domains to sell on, to keep, or to hi-jack by cyber squatting.  The most common names like confused.com. or elvis.com have been taken long ago and are proberly never going to come up for new registration again. So where does this leave you, if you’re looking for a domain?  

Did you know that here are 900 possible combinations for two letter sequences. But if you’re looking for “IT” then you just won’t find it!  Even allowing for digits, again every single web address is taken for .com Of course, that’s ignoring the fact that .com registrars now mandate a 3-character minimum length, so it wouldn’t be an option. Its well worth checking out what domain availability there is for the NZ TLD (top level domain) by buying and “land-banking” you could get yourself a really nice future investment.

Other ways to make great domain names
Many of the three-letter sequences are taken. Adding digits to a domain name creates a number of garbage domain entries. If you’re dying to acquire great domains and unique domain names, they’ll free up sometimes only to be auctioned off through unique domain name sales.  

Basically, the longer the domain name that you choose, the more that the possibilities are that it could be available presuming that you’re willing to accept an arbitrary sequence of letters and/or digits. For example, most organizations have 3 and 4 letter acronyms so you may have a chance using over 4 letters to get the domain name that you want in acronym style!

The best advice, we feel is to obtain a domain name that closely resembles who you are about which gives you and identity and brand on the internet.

Have you you recommended or endorsed an I.T. product on your tech blog…?

The FTC wants To confirm: Bloggers “Probably” Won’t Get stumped $11,000 for fines. You may have heard, that recently the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has upset a lot of bloggers and opend up a huge can of worms.

The agency this week announced new guidelines that require bloggers and celebrities to make it known when they receive payments for endorsing products!

Can you imagine how some companies feel about that? It made a lot of people very anxious especially those that are launching new I.T. Products that get huge amounts of publicity through the blogosphere.  But that part was not controversial — though the guidelines had lots of questions on what that meant and who was a blogger. What really made people mad was the the fact that if you were caught endorsing a product and had not labelled it a paid advert; your any violation of the new guidelines could cost bloggers up to $11,000 per incident!

Since this time it looks like there is a re-think from the FTC on how they are going to manage this situation they have created. Apparantly if you endorse products through your blog you’re going to get a warning from the FTC about this unless you clearly label if you did or did not recieve remuneration for your review.

But how would the federal trade commision stop bloggers who operate on .com domains that do not live in the United States? And what of people that endorse US products that again host their blogs off US soil. It sounds like a huge can of worms…now then.. what were we going to blog about how about McAfee.com and its virus scanner.

Welcome to ITJobs.co.nz the New Zealand I.T. Jobsite

If you are an employer that has to recruit IT staff then you may already know that finding recruiting commercially experienced tech staff can be very difficult. ITJobs.co.nz  is an  alternative job board service that is dedicated to IT recruitment.

- Easily advertise jobs online, recieving ad response direct to your inbox
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Call us free on 0800 JOBBOARD  (0800 562 262) if you would like more information about using our jobsite services, we look forward to assisting you with your recruitment advertising.

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