Amazon’s MP3 Shot at Apple

Amazon launched a mobile web version of its MP3 store. On the surface that may not seem significant, but as a mobile version based in HTML5 code, Amazon is able to offer another source for cheap tunes to iOS users.

Apple has historically made sure that iTunes is the de-facto way for iOS users to obtain content. To that end, many iOS users don’t bother to take advantage of other means of acquiring digital media as the walls of Apple surround them.

Now, Amazon is delivering the easiest of sources via a simple website address that any user can access. Hit up Amazon’s MP3 Store to check out the music offerings.

MediaFire Delivers 50GB to Android

In case you’ve been living under a rock, cloud storage services are everywhere right now. Between extremely popular services like Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud and SkyDrive, users are covered from every angle. The only downside being that space can be an issue.

MediaFire this week announced that they’ve finally released an Android version of their app. While iOS users have been enjoying MediaFire’s free 50GB accounts for some time now, Android users finally get a taste of that huge chunk of cloud storage.

MediaFire is still a minor player in the cloud storage market, but with 50GB of free cloud storage they’re making a rather large footprint.

Facebook Adds Voice Calling for iOS

Take that Google Voice! Perhaps not. A new Facebook feature is aimed at giving mobile users free voice calls over Wi-Fi or cellular networks. While it is a promising development, there are limitations and it is by no means a serious challenge to Google Voice or other VoIP services.

Currently, the feature is only available to iOS users (by tapping the “i” button), can only call those with the Facebook Messenger app installed and cannot handle landline calls (which Google Voice can).

Still, it is early in the feature’s life cycle so anything is possible down the road.

Other Stories of Note

LinkedIn shuts down LinkedIn Answers

It’s being reported by Mashable that LinkedIn Answers will be expired to make way for other avenues of engagement between its members. End date appears to be 1/31/13. Reasoning behind the move points to limited interaction from users.

The news isn’t exactly earth shattering, but the Answers section was a good place to browse for information. Perhaps all the browsing wasn’t interactive enough to keep Answers alive.

MySpace Re-launch Sort of

MySpace has extended its arm from the grave with a new look. The cleaner more modern look appeals to the music side of users. Connecting through music is very much what MySpace is all about now. The idea is solid and if MySpace was named something other than MySpace, it would probably do well. As it stands, we’ll have to wait and see if MySpace can extend more than an arm from the grave.

Private Dell – A Sign of the Times

Although not set in concrete just yet, it appears Dell is moving towards a buyout on their way to becoming a private company. The computer industry as a whole has struggled amid the onslaught of tablets and smartphones. Dell in particular has taken huge hits with PC sales in a slump and a less than enthusiastic response from the tech world about Windows 8.

Going private may refocus Dell and empower them to think beyond traditional PCs, a gamble that must be taken to revitalize the company moving forward. If everything goes smoothly, expect news of Dell going private sometime in late January.

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The post Tech Stories You Might Have Missed [January 13-19, 2013] first appeared on GeekITDown Computer Services & Technology Solutions.

Currently the option to send voice messages is only available through the separate Messenger app for Facebook though we expect that to expand eventually.

How To Send Facebook Voice Messages

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• First, head over to your device’s app store, search for and install Facebook Messenger. [info]Facebook Messenger for iOS
  Facebook Messenger for Android[/info]
• Open the app and press the + sign to start a new message.
• Enter in a friend’s name in the ‘To:’ field.
• Press the + sign next to the ‘Write a message’ field.
• You’ll notice several options. Tap ‘Record Voice’.
• Press and hold the record button (circle with a red dot in the center) and speak your message.
• Release the record button when you are finished.
• Messages are automatically sent once the button is released.

Once the recorded message is sent, users can listen to it at anytime by pressing play inside their message center.

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Many of the changes are designed to simplify the control process for users with more direct labeling of privacy settings and additional control over what apps can see and do. However, with all the positive that may come from these changes, Facebook can’t mask that they have stripped away possibly the one feature that is most important for privacy.

Here’s a rundown of the changes and briefly what they mean for your privacy.

Facebook Privacy Changes

Request and Removal Tool for Photos

In a nutshell, users will have the ability to mass request other users remove photos of them or untag themselves from photos.

Of course untagged photos don’t remove photos from other areas of Facebook, just removes them from your own timeline.

Privacy Quick Links

A new Privacy Shortcuts button will be added to all Facebook pages in the upper right hand corner with the Home button.

The Privacy Shortcuts button will list 3 primary links to more directly view who has access to your data and who can contact you. A fourth option is available to “See All Settings”, but one can only wonder what “all” means this time around.

Activity Log Improvement

Facebook has implemented a way to view your entire history in one fell swoop through the Activity Log. Users can view their most recent post as well as posts from years ago from the Activity Log screen.

This feature is already in place and can be seen by appending “allactivity” to the end of your Facebook page URL. [info]Example: https://www.facebook.com/YOURUSERNAMEHERE/allactivity.[/info]

The improvements come by way of filtering whether it be by year, month, post type or app interaction so users can quickly see those items which appeared in their timeline.

App Permissions

For a long time it’s been, when an app is in, it’s in. Now users will have another option to prevent blanket allowing of permissions to apps.

Users will still need to allow an app access to their profile in order to utilize its benefits, but only basic approval with an option for advanced permission. [info]Example: You want to use an app so you allow the app access to your profile. Done. Now the app wants permission to post to your friends. You can allow or skip that permission.[/info]

This change doesn’t really mean a whole lot since apps could essentially ignore the process unless Facebook starts demanding they adhere to their new permission policy.

Search Inclusion

Finally, the most significant change isn’t a positive one. Facebook has decided that users cannot opt out of having their name included in search.

That means, users cannot keep their profile hidden from the search feature. [warning]Think of Facebook as a worldwide phonebook, but you can’t be unlisted.[/warning]

The opt out of search feature is one of the most important of all privacy settings and frankly the foundation for privacy on Facebook. We’ll let you draw your own conclusions about this change, but we find this to be unacceptable.

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The post Another Round Of Facebook Privacy Updates first appeared on GeekITDown Computer Services & Technology Solutions.

How To View Friendship Status Page

[list style=”square” color=”cobult”]

• Login to Facebook.
• Navigate to one of your friend’s Facebook pages.
• Look for the gear icon just below the lower right-hand corner of their timeline image.
• Click the gear arrow.
  
• Click on ‘See Friendship’.

If done correctly you should have been directed to a unique page displaying information related to only you and the friend in question.

The pages are a good way to keep track of conversations and find something you both interacted on, in the past. What are your thoughts on the pages?

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The post How To View Friendship Status Page [Facebook] first appeared on GeekITDown Computer Services & Technology Solutions.

It seems every few months or so there is a new sequel in the long running series of Facebook privacy fiascoes. This time around Facebook is targeting anyone in a current or past relationship.

Couples Pages

The new, loosely labeled, feature is a new page created for anyone tagged in a relationship on Facebook. It combines users profiles to portray a single unified couples page. In a nutshell it means John Doe and Jane Doe now have a JohnDoeandJaneDoe page along with their own personal Facebook pages.

The new couples page displays numerous details about those in the relationship. As an example, couples pages might include anniversary date, photos they’re both tagged in, mutual friends, mutual likes and all posts involving each other.

As of now, there is no way to delete the pages or control the content displayed on couples pages.

Privacy Concerns

As usual, this new ‘feature‘ raises a lot of privacy concerns for users. First and foremost, there is absolutely no way to control couples pages. Neither partner in the relationship has ownership (which if they did would raise another problem) and there are no controls in personal account settings to manage couples pages and information.

Now to be fair, married couples in a long stable relationship may not have a problem with this feature. We can also see the benefit in having a couples page for newly engaged users who want to have a unified page to share the news with the world. However, in most cases we’re talking about young adults or even teenagers who flip the relationship tag off and on like a light switch. That kind sharing isn’t what anyone wants.

Additionally, anyone can view relationship information by navigating to a couples page. If you’re familiar with friendship pages, then you won’t be surprised by the setup and information available on couples pages.

What Can You Do

In short, not a whole lot. As we mentioned, control settings don’t exist and there is no way to opt out of couples pages. However, there are a few long, uncomfortable things you can do to limit the information on those pages.

[list type=bullet]

• Eliminate Mutual Friendship Listing: Nothing short of un-friending common friends will fix this.
• Eliminate Posts: Don’t post on each other’s walls or about each other to keep posts to a minimum on your couples page. Delete old posts if you want to remove existing information.
• Eliminate Common Likes: Don’t both like the same things.
• Eliminate Relationship Status and Location: You’ll have to hide those bits of information from everyone in your privacy settings. That will keep the ‘complicated’ and other statuses as well as where you live hidden from viewers.

Aside from those rather drastic steps, you can complain to Facebook and ask them to get rid of couples pages. Although, we have zero belief that Facebook will remove them no matter how much outrage there is.

Something To Consider

Facebook is still the giant among giants in terms of social gathering and interaction. There’s no denying that Facebook still brings us together like never before and even with the backhanded slaps to privacy, people continue to use it because there is no other source quite like it.

For those who are serious about moving on from Facebook there is an option. Create your own page where you, your friends and family can stay in contact. There are so many website creation services available now, that anyone can get started quickly. Many are free and offer plenty of detail for making a space of your own.

If games are your primary Facebook activity, then that option may be difficult to swallow but games come and go and you may find the idea of your own personal space – managed by you – a worthwhile project.

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The post Facebook Strikes Again With Couples Pages first appeared on GeekITDown Computer Services & Technology Solutions.

Make Your Website Part Of The Nifty Collection

Yola

Typically our Nifty Website choices focus on the smaller, up and coming websites that are on the verge of success. Yola is a bit different in that they are already well established and for the most part successful. However, their website builder offers something that many don’t in the form of business tools and merchant integration options. Continue..Read more about Yola.

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Follr

One of the more common aggravations about social interaction and networking online is that there is just so much of it. Think about the websites you visit everyday and undoubtedly there are a handful of social websites on the list. Plainly put, our identities are scattered all over the web and with them our connections. In an effort to simplify and organize all those social places into a centralized digital form, Follr has created a business card type presentation for all your personal spaces. Continue..Read more about Follr.

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Flavors.me

A popular topic covered in the Nifty Websites Collection is website creation. We’re on a mission to make sure everyone who wants an easy way to create a website, knows the options. With that in mind, Flavors.me is another outstanding way to take advantage of point and click website creation. Continue..Read more about Flavors.

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The post Nifty Websites Collection [October 29, 2012] first appeared on GeekITDown Computer Services & Technology Solutions.

One of the more common aggravations about social interaction and networking online is that there is just so much of it. Think about the websites you visit everyday and undoubtedly there are a handful of social websites on the list. Plainly put, our identities are scattered all over the web and with them our connections. In an effort to simplify and organize all those social places into a centralized digital form, Follr has created a business card type presentation for all your personal spaces.

The Follr Idea

Follr calls their gathering of social information, “personal profile sites”. Translated, that means that users establish an identity on Follr and add all their online addresses to create contact details for every social handle they use. Essentially creating a digital business card.

Personal profile sites are more than just a gathering of Facebook, Twitter and social network handles. They’re an identity description accompanied by a bio section with skills, professional title and stream incorporation.

Features

Linking social profiles to Follr is the immediate draw, but the service provides some other useful tidbits as well. We’ve already touched on the bio section which can be used to list all sorts of information about yourself, your business, skills, achievements or whatever and the information can be as small as a single sentence or include detailed information.

Beyond social contact details and handles, users can add more direct contact information to their profiles such as Skype, Google Voice, Instant Messenger and a number of others. By adding them all to Follr, it ensures others can contact you without bouncing between sites in search of other contact means.

Feeds are another great way to enhance a Follr profile. Twitter and RSS feeds can be incorporated into Follr for a continual stream of information. The updates are a great way for others to see just what you’re all about beyond a bio.

The Follr appeal comes from the single web address which can be shared with everyone and contain all user social handle data in one place. It’s akin to sharing your website, but instead of reaching a page with a large amount of other information, a Follr page delivers your social hangouts.

Bottom Line

Follr is not a website replacement. It’s not even a LinkedIn replacement in terms of showcasing professional skills. What it is though is a place where users can compile a complete list of their social handles and hangouts with an emphasis on contact options.

The service is free, it’s visually appealing with profile customization options, it offers a bio section along with blog feeds and it just plain works. Not bad for a digital business card. Give it a try and see if you don’t find yourself giving out your Follr address as opposed to a half dozen social handles.

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Make Your Website Part Of The Nifty Collection

Postling

Small businesses are still trying to understand and properly use social media to expand their brand and market their products and services. To that end, management of social media accounts can seem like an overwhelming task with the number of social channels continually rising. Postling is a social media management tool for small businesses with an emphasis on simplicity for brand marketing. Continue..Read more about Postling.

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Citrify

Quality in photos isn’t natural. In fact most popular photographs are in one way or another edited to enhance image quality or hide imperfections. That’s why photo editing tools are so plentiful. Citrify is another such tool focused on imperfection correction. Continue..Read more about Citrify.

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Password Generator

If you’re a user who spends more than 12 hours a week online, then you likely need to create new passwords fairly frequently. With so many new cloud services, social websites and online gaming, new account creation is a regular activity for most. Password Generator is a super quick way to help make the sign up process a little easier. Continue..Read more about Password Generator.

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Make Your Website Part Of The Nifty Collection

The post Nifty Websites Collection [October 15, 2012] first appeared on GeekITDown Computer Services & Technology Solutions.

Small businesses are still trying to understand and properly use social media to expand their brand and market their products and services. To that end, management of social media accounts can seem like an overwhelming task with the number of social channels continually rising. Postling is a social media management tool for small businesses with an emphasis on simplicity for brand marketing.

It’s no secret that social media is currently the most pronounced way of garnering attention for your brand or business. Facebook alone is like its own ecosystem with likes, shares, apps, surveys and other features. Individuals don’t have to worry about their Facebook presence or Twitter re-tweets, but businesses do. A lot of time and money go into building brand pages on social media channels, which means businesses need results to justify the commitment of resources.

Results come from regular participation, sharing and promotion. To manage all social media outlets equally is an enormous task for small businesses. Personnel doesn’t exist for such promotion while marketing and advertising for small businesses is still an area that is addressed in house and outsourced on a per case basis.

Postling’s social media management interface allows small businesses to share and promote through their social channels from a single platform. Postling can manage Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, WordPress, Tumblr, Yelp, Bit.ly, CitySearch, Blogger, Squarespace, Typepad, Drupal and Flickr. The wide range of choices allow small businesses a chance to focus their efforts instead of dividing their time between social media outlets.

Features

The brilliance is in cross posting to eliminate the need for multiple posting across multiple sites. Through Postling, users can publishing their content in one centralized location to all their social media sources. Posts can be scheduled to further save time and manage targeted messages. Comments can also be monitored through Postling to help businesses and brands react quickly.

Tracking social conversations is part of the Postling package with enhanced threads to breakdown comments and follow their flow at any time. Additionally, Postling provides a recap of daily activity across social accounts, which provides information that would otherwise require navigation to each individual website.

Since Postling is focusing on small businesses and brands, additional account users can be added to help with posting and overall management. There are a number of other features Postling offers to improve a small business’ dedication to social media as well as their performance.

Final Notes

Postling is a well rounded all in one solution for social media management. The tracking features for comments, reviews and interactions is of particular interest and helps to justify this non-free solution. Postling is $5/month (for first 5 accounts, +$3/month for additional accounts). There is a trial period of $1 for the first 30 days to allow for testing of the service at a minimal charge.

The Postling interface offers a variety of social media outlets for publishing content and the iPhone mobile app makes it convenient for on the go management. Overall, Postling is a decent service that is definitely targeted towards small businesses that are limited on time and need to manage all social content from one location.

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The post Postling Is Social Media Management For Small Businesses first appeared on GeekITDown Computer Services & Technology Solutions.

Make Your Website Part Of The Nifty Collection

Neighbor.ly

Neighbor.ly is a civic crowdfunding platform which helps promote places and civic projects in need of fundraising. The idea behind Neighbor.ly brings local projects to the community and with contributions from donors and individuals, kickstarts those projects. Continue..Read more about Neighbor.ly.

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Vimbly

The newest way to find and learn about activities is Vimbly. Through fully vetted vendors, users can set appointments and book courses without searching online for endless hours. Continue..Read more about Vimbly.

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Publicate

If you’re a collector of web things and prefer having them all stashed in one social location, then Publicate is the perfect fit. Continue..Read more about Publicate.

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The post Nifty Websites Collection [October 8, 2012] first appeared on GeekITDown Computer Services & Technology Solutions.