It has become quite a common routine for people to open a whole slew of social network sites upon opening a browser in one's computer. My browser, Firefox of course, opens up about a half dozen sites when I start my online routine. There usually is no problem in doing this, but the problem lies in updating all of them with as little time in between when doing so. Thankfully, there are a number of web apps or services that help me update all of my social networks in one go. Also, the social networks themselves are adding features that let you update other social networks when posting updates. When left unchecked, it can cause feedback, much like a microphone that's too close to a speaker. It gets loud. Too loud. Twitter, by itself, does not post updates to other social networks, like Facebook, MySpace, Plurk, etc. Facebook, by itself, also does the same thing. The difference between the two is that Facebook imports "stories" from other sites, such as blog feeds, Google Reader, StumbleUpon, etc, and shows it in the home page. Facebook is noisy as it is, with updates from friends that answered quizzes, joined groups, became fans, etc. Twitter is noisy when the people you follow update their statuses by the minute, which is sometimes the case. I don't mind the noise. Not at all. Other social networks choose to do something different. Take, for example, Friendfeed. Although it functions like Twitter BUT with real-time updates, it also aggregates friends' feeds from other social networks. So if a friend of mine is a Friendfeed user and I follow them on Friendfeed, I get their status updates to Friendfeed and any social network they have decided to add to their feed, like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. Friendfeed is great as it tries to be the one-stop-shop to check friends' updates and start-slash-continue discussions by posting comments. The problem with Friendfeed is that it can't post an update to other social networks, other than Twitter, at the same time. Ping.fm solves this dilemma by providing a service that updates a number of social networks. So in one posting, I can update my status in all the social networks I belong to. It was great, at first. However, whenever I check my Friendfeed, it displays my Ping.fm-based update several times because the same message was posted to a number of social networks I added. It may not be a problem, nor would anyone care, but it was me who was annoyed by multiple instances of the same message. I decided to remove the social networks from Friendfeed that I update simultaneously through Ping.fm. So before, when I update my status, my Friendfeed displays the same message that I posted in Twitter, Facebook, and Plurk. Now, it just displays the update I posted to Friendfeed. This way, I don't annoy my followers with a number of mirrored posts. The only difference in those mirrored posts is where it was posted. There are desktop clients, whether AIR-based or otherwise, that let users post messages simultaneously to multiple social networks. Twhirl, an AIR-based desktop application, posts primarily to Twitter, but has extended its coverage by using Ping.fm's service, posting tweets to other social networks. However, I still use Ping.fm's service to update my social networks instead of Twhirl, mainly because I can't use Twhirl on other computers or on my phone. And then, there's Plurk. Although the concept is similar to Twitter, the execution is very different. And recently, they have decided to add a feature where a plurk is also posted on Twitter and Facebook, among others. Since I was using Ping.fm already, I saw no reason to use this feature. It only made sense that I stick to one service, or method of updating my status, to prevent confusion and me annoying the hell out of everybody else. If only Friendfeed's aggregation features and Ping.fm's updating service merge into one, with a desktop client to boot, it would make updating and keeping tabs on multiple social networks a whole lot easier. That would, in my very humble opinion, take the social network scene to a whole new level.

Facebook has been receiving a lot of flak lately due to the recently deployed redesign of a user's News Feed, the default or home page of a user upon logging in. A number of people have created groups petitioning the return of the "old" Facebook, claiming that if they wanted a Twitter-like interface, they would have used Twitter instead. However, just to clarify some things, the new Facebook News Feed is something more akin to Friendfeed, which is a micro-blogging platform that also took a page from Twitter, but does more. Friendfeed aggregates a user's social network updates, including Twitter, Facebook, Plurk, Google Reader, and blog feeds, among others. With Friendfeed, users can comment on posts and feed updates, and they also have an option to "like" them. The major difference between Twitter and Friendfeed is the 140-character limit. Now, this "like" feature is what Facebook copied from Friendfeed, and Friendfeed copied the "like" feature from Twitter's "favor" feature. So you see, Facebook did not copy Twitter. Facebook copied Friendfeed, which copied Twitter somewhat. Or at least, that's how I perceive it. And it's not just me. Personally, I like what Facebook did to the News Feed. For me, it was easier to use than the previous design, although I wish it had the auto-update feature of Plurk, which notifies you when there are new updates to your timeline, or in Facebook's case, the News Feed. Facebook's notification system is limited to the kind where someone comments on your status, tagged you in a photo, or shot you with mayonnaise in the face. Plurk notifies you if any of your friends have updated their status or responded to one of your or your friends' updates. It may not be easy, but it is doable. Since the deployment of the new design, there were a few minor tweaks in a Facebook user's News Feed, like the "People you may know" and "Requests" sections are now above the "Highlights." There will be more changes and tweaks in the News Feed, as Facebook has expressed, one way or another, that they will be taking into consideration the feedback and input of their users. This may not be a good idea, according to TechCrunch's Michael Arrington. And I agree with him. Facebook is a free service. To demand something from a free service is not really my cup of tea. Whatever they decide to implement, if I like it or I hate it, it doesn't really matter. The bottomline is that it's really my choice if I want to continue using the service or not. And it is yours, too. To each their own, I guess.

A brief background of Adobe AIR AIR is Adobe's way of merging the web and the desktop by letting application developers distribute their, well, applications without thinking about the platform. Applications developed using AIR runs on all platforms, and I mean ALL platforms. For Adobe to release AIR and making it available on all platforms makes the company admirable, almost noble, in my eyes. What makes them look like evil pigs is that they don't want to release their other applications, specifically Creative Suite, in a Linux-flavored version, though I don't know why or how it can be so hard to do since OS X is Unix-based already and they have a version for the said operating system. For me, this is another revenue stream Adobe is deliberately neglecting. I mean, we all know operating systems such as Windows and OS X costs a pretty penny, and Adobe software is not different. In not-so-good times, people are looking for cheap, or free, alternatives. A free operating system is a godsend for bargain-hunters, and free software more so. Remember the Task Remember The Task is an AIR app that lets you add, edit, and mark tasks in your Remember The Milk task list. As you may well know, Remember The Milk is a web app that lets you manage your tasks. It is far better than GMail's Tasks feature, though I hope that someday, GMail's Tasks will allow importing and exporting tasks between the two web services, and vice versa. However, if you have added the RTM gadget in GMail, the app essentially lifted that same gadget and simply put it on your desktop. Simple, familiar, and super-useful for those wanting to deviate from the browser every once in a while. MePing Ping.fm's web service, which lets you update social network services with your status updates and microblog posts, is something I consider very indispensable. It makes it very easy for me to update all my social networks in one go. MePing lets you use Ping.fm's web service without a browser, and so far, it is the better looking AIR app that I have seen amongst other Ping.fm-related AIR apps. The only thing lacking in this AIR app is a notification that tells you that your message has been posted. Another feature that might be a good addition would be the capability to post videos, in addition to uploading pictures and adding geolocation information. Those familiar with Ping.fm's service will surely be comfortable using this AIR app. twhirl twhirl is one of the apps I immediately launch after logging in on my desktop. It has support for various microblogging services like Twitter, Friendfeed, and the Twitter-clone Identi.ca, among others. It basically helps me keep up with the various updates on services I currently subscribe to. Other services that I wish twhirl adds in the near future would be Facebook updates, which resides in a walled garden, and Plurk updates, which doesn't have an official API. If twhirl adds those two services, which is when hell freezes over, there will be no need for me to log in to those services using a browser, except for account settings-related reasons. Primarily, I use Ubuntu as my weapon of choice. I seldom log in to my Windows install. These AIR apps help ease the transition from using Windows to Linux for those wanting to save a few bucks with their operating system, at least, in my opinion. Hopefully, Adobe's AIR let people break away from proprietary operating systems and consider better and cheaper alternatives. "It doesn't run on Linux" shouldn't be used as an excuse. Not anymore.