How to get the most out of Twitter search

Lately i have caught myself using Twitter search almost as much as Google. It has become an important tool for finding news and information in areas that interest me. If, for some reason, you are not familiar with Twitter search, you can find it at search.twitter.com, but they have already announced they were integrating Twitter search with the main platform, so it seems like a good time to learn more about it.

The basics

Twitter search works pretty much the same as Google or any other search engine, you simply type in what you want to search for and Twitter will find all of the tweets that contain that keyword. A really cool thing about Twitter search is that, you can subscribe to the results in your feed reader, simply by clicking the RSS button in the upper-right hand corner of every result page.

Advanced features

If you want to refine your search with additional options, you can use a number of different operators to get better results. There’s a nice list of all the operators you can use with the search at search.twitter.com/operators. If you don’t want to type the operators, or if you simply prefer filling out a form, Twitter has put up a really nice page where you can literally see all of the different ways you can search Twitter. You can find advanced Twitter search features at search.twitter.com/advanced.

I will not go into detail of every operator, but will show you the most useful ones you should get comfortable with.

The hashtag is probably the most important function of Twitter search, and the most used too. Hastags are tags used to identify tweets related to a certain conversation. You can either use the hashtag feature of the advanced search or just type #tag into a regular Twitter search. For instance, if you type in #FollowFriday, you will get all the conversations about this topic.

Search for @reply to find replies to you or to find out who is talking about you. Just put the @ in front of your username in Twitter search and it will show you all the replies and conversations that mention your name. You can subscribe to this feed as well, helping you keep track of who is retweeting and replying to you.

The minus sign is very simple, but useful. Works the same as in Google or any other search engine. If your search brings up irrelevant results you can filter out the irrelevant results by using the minus sign.

Local search is where Twitter really shines. If you’re looking for something at a specific location, let’s say London, just search near:london and you will get all the results nearby.

Another great thing is search in time periods. This lets you narrow down your search to a specific timeline. To limit results to a certain timeframe, use the operators since: and until:. Format the dates as YYYY-MM-DD.

Conclusion

Well, Twitter is not the best search engine, but is one of the best tools for keeping on top of relevant news. Even if you don’t use Twitter, it can be a very useful search engine. It’s great to get blogging ideas too. Oh, and one more tip - searches are case insensitive, so don’t worry about how you type it - just be sure to spell it correctly. [source]

BlackBerry Curve Review on Blackberrysoft

This is Phone Scoop's review of the BlackBerry Curve from Research in Motion. …

SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry exits beta, iPhone version submitted to App Store

Get ready, BlackBerry users, because your days are officially about to become less productive (or, at the very least, your mass transit commutes).

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BlackBerry Media Sync 2.0 updated to support Windows Media Player

Now that it supports album art, Vista 64-bit and there’s a public beta for Mac users, Continue Reading...

RIM will soon launch an online store to rival Apple's, with Nokia and Microsoft to follow

On Apr. 1, Mike Lazaridis, co-CEO of Research in Motion (RIM), is expected to take the stage at the wireless industry's annual trade show in Las Vegas and open the virtual doors to a much anticipated new online store. BlackBerry App World will be chock-full of software programs created by outside developers that visitors will be able to download to their RIM phones.

It's the first of several major assaults by rivals on Apple (AAPL)'s fast-­growing iPhone business. Apple has stoked demand for the device by offering thousands of software applications from independent developers through its App Store. Now, Nokia (NOK), Microsoft (MSFT), and Palm (PALM) plan to follow RIM with virtual software stores of their own this year. "There's going to be a significant counter-­challenge to Apple," says Mike McGuire, analyst with researcher Gartner (IT).

Nokia, RIM, and others sell more phones than Apple. But Apple has leapt out to an early lead in transforming the mobile phone into a sophisticated computing device onto which people load their favorite software. The number of mobile phones that can browse the Web and handle other advanced tasks is expected to surge from 139 million last year to 295 million in 2010, according to Gartner. These so-called smartphones are on track to eclipse the 300 million-unit ­personal computer market. "This could make the PC wars of the 1980s look like small potatoes," says Trip Hawkins, chief executive of mobile game maker Digital Chocolate.

RIM may seem an unlikely contender in this fight. Its BlackBerry is often dismissed as the utilitarian, slightly boring alternative to the stylish iPhone. But RIM is taking aim at the one clear weakness in Apple's approach—the paltry profits for developers who create software for the iPhone. RIM plans to make the business more lucrative for developers, to lure them away from the House that Jobs Built. "RIM's strategy is defensive," notes Anil Doradla, an analyst with William Blair. "But based on RIM's track record, I'd give them high marks."

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Wall Street Journal Mobile Reader for BlackBerry

Get Anytime/Anywhere access to The Wall Street Journal news with this customizable application. Automatically updates your phone with critical news, market moves, and in-depth analysis of game changing global events, even offline.

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Meet the coolest ringtone siblings for your BlackBerry

Ringtone Shuffler, a ringtone shuffling software by Gx5 is a new BlackBerry software that lets you hear a different custom ringtone each time you receive a call.

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Pandora has just released their radio app for the BlackBerry

Pandora has just released their radio app for the BlackBerry. Straight from your BlackBerry, you can create a new channel, start a quickmix, and play music. There is also a status bar at the bottom of the application with the thumbs up and down button. The app is free but is ad supported and seems to work on Verizon and AT&T only right now. You can download the app by visiting Pandora.com from your BlackBerry. Via

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FREE Wall Street Journal Mobile Reader for BlackBerry

BlackBerry Media Sync 2.0 updated to support Windows Media Player

Google Mobile App for Blackberry now with Search by voice and by Location

SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry exits beta, iPhone version submitted to App Store

Pandora BlackBerry App Launches, Doesn’t Work on Storm

Downsides are a-plenty, however: no Storm support and no love for T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) users. On top of that Pandora, like long-time long-time BlackBerry mobile music service, Slacker, doesn’t have the licensing to work outside of the United States, and for that reason alone, I’ll stick with nuTsie. Still, if you’d like to get your mobile music groove on for free, hit up www.pandora.com on your mobile browser and get downloading.

BlackBerry Gemini 8325 live pictures and specs

Sorry it’s not the greatest picture in the world, but at least we can put a face to the specs and info. We dropped word of the BlackBerry Gemini a while back, and it looks to be cross between an 8300 and an 8900. Ugh, the madness never stops. Then again, did you really expect something different for an “updated BlackBerry Curve?” Here’s the information we published earlier:

• OS 5.0
• 320×240 resolution screen
• QWERTY (really?)
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n (again, not too sure on the n part)
• 2.0 megapixel camera

Again, really not too much here, just a pretty face. Yes, it’s pretty. And hey, there’s one thing we know… it’s not Photoshopped. Not laughing? Oh whatever. [source]

Blackberry (RIM) provide support to the Nokia latest devices

Nokia and blackberry the leading mobile manufacturers are in process of making deal where Blackberry (RIM) provide support to the Nokia latest devices. You may recall several months ago, just about the time the E66 and E71 were announced, that Nokia also revealed it would be discontinuing support for BlackBerry service on its S60-powered smartphones. This was a huge deal, and the post was one of our most popular for several months afterwards. However, in a recent Rueters interview, Tom Furlong, head of Nokia Messaging, let us know that RIM is preparing its own support for Nokia devices.

It’s been several months now since Nokia announced their new E71 and E66 devices, and while the announcement came as great news to S60 and Nokia fans, Nokia darkened their day by letting them all know that BlackBerry Connect was not going to be supported on Nokia devices any longer. Nokia’s explanation of course was that their devices and new email system they were working on (Nokia Messaging) was a much better email solution as it catered to all users, not just business users. In a recent interview with Tom Furlong, Nokia’s head of messaging, he stated that Nokia’s messaging service is up and running and people are using it but he also mentioned the following as well. Source (CrackBerry)

Google Voice Will Dominate? 10 Reasons

I already make a post on Google Voice here are some questions [Source]

One number to ring them all
One number to find them
One number to bring them all
And under Google bind them

That Lord of the Rings parody pretty much sums up Google Voice, which used to be known as GrandCentral. I’ve been registered with it for several years, but stopped using because I was waiting for Google to weave its magic. I’d almost forgotten about it until the Google Voice announcement. The Google magic is now woven.

Here’s an 10 point summary of what Google Voice is, what it means and why it changes the game.

1. It’s a Personal PABX Google Voice is a complete personal PABX which combines voice mail, call recording, call blocking (from people you don’t want calling you), call notification (via email or sms) and allows you to reduce all your phone numbers to a single number that you choose yourself (from an available list) and which will never change. You can add or delte any other numbers including hotel room numbers, or temporary number for when you visit aunt Meg. And by the way, the voice male is transcripted automatically so you can read it as an email. The voice to text translation is not perfect, but it works well enough unless you have a thick accent.
2. It’s a web based phone service. You’re sitting at your computer and want to phone someone. You got to Google Voice and click on someone’s ID in the address book and it rings them and rings you to complete the call. If you have a web site you can put a button on it and users can click the button enter their phone number and it will do the same thing - i.e set up a call.
3. Conferencing and Video Phone. Right now it doesn’t offer video calls, but Google does through Gmail. So how long before video phone is part of the service (should you want it)? It can’t be long. And by the way you can do conference calls on Google Voice so say goodbye to that conferencing service you use. No need, instant conferencing through Google Voice.
4. It’s free by any reasonable definition of  the word. Currently it’s a US only service and it’s free for all calls in the US. It’s not entirely free because international calls cost (about 2 cents per minute for most countries), but that’s less than Skype calls and it’s a lot less (but still about 18 cents per minute) if they go to mobile phones.
5. Unified Communications - coming soon. You may have noticed that Google already has email and chat (with voice and video.) So get prepared for unified communications through Google. It’s not here yet. Google Voice gives you SMS and Gmail gives you email and chat. Unified communications and more sophisticated collaboration are a few steps away, but not available now.
6. Google has just one competitor in the UC space. The competitor is Skype with 400 million registered users and millions of active users. Google will not overwhelm Skype any time soon, just as it will not overwhelm Yahoo Mail any time soon. But I hate to say this Mr Skype, Google is gunning for you. There have been rumors that Google would acquire Skype and that might still happen on the basis of “buying the user base.” But if it doesn’t happen then Skype will be the competition. If you’re a telco and believe you can compete with Google, dream on. Google ate your breakfast long ago and even Googled up your lunch. If you think that any other vendors in the UC will be able to compete with Google you’re wrong. Google is not interested in the corporate space right now, so there is still space for other players, but right now it’s between Google and Skype for the consumer market. My money is on Google.
7. Google is a Telco. Google is already a telco by any reasonable definition of the term. Google has been spending heavily on communications. It has been buying up fiber and getting involved in the US Spectrum Auctions.  It controls more network fiber than any other organization in the world. It isn’t that Google directly own  a vast amount of fiber, just  that they control it through agreements with network operators.
8. It’s about Integrated Telephony. You can think of Google Voice as a  communications initiative, but it isn’t as divorced from what Google is planning as that. Google is looking to provide a complete cloud-based computing environment for the average Joe. The average Joe accesses the web, has a PC (or netbook), does a few office apps, watches YouTube videos, makes telephone calls and has a mobile phone. Joe, Google. Google, Joe. Google Voice is not about telephony it’s about integrated telephony.
9. The Google Dynamic is Bottom-up. Google is moving from the bottom upwards. If you think any of Google’s other assets (search, advertising, Google Apps, Chrome, the Android mobile platform, etc.) are unrelated to this, then wrong you are. Google is moving in the direction of: consumer market -> SOHO market -> SMB market  -> the mid market -> the corporate market. Google is unashamedly going for the numbers. As Napoleon once said, “God is on the side of the big battalions.”
10. Google is the new Microsoft. Just in case you thought it was Apple, it isn’t. It’s Google. There’s a parallel to the time when Microsoft launched Windows 3.0. It quickly became obvious that Microsoft was out there on it’s own and IBM had no means of defending itself against the new power. Watch the rise of Google Voice and Google’s communications business. The same applies.

It has become a web-centric world. Netscape could have done far better than it did by camping out in the cloud and challenging Microsoft to do battle in that terrain. Instead Netscape marched confidently on to the desktop and was slaughtered in short order. Netscape did Google a great service. It convinced Microsoft that it had seen off the threat from the Internet, so as Google rose up, Microsoft never saw the danger.  Now it’s too late.

Google's new Google Voice; what will be the future of VoIPs?

Google's new Google Voice has a few rough edges but -- for many users -- it could be a life changing experience.

The service, which is a relaunch of GrandCentral that Google bought in 2007, allows you to choose a local number which will simultaneously ring up to six phones such as your cell phone, home phone, office phone and the phone at that vacation home that most of us can only dream about. In addition to forwarding your calls, it also takes voice messages that you can listen to on the web, from a phone or read thanks to a new feature that transcribes voice messages and sends them as email and text messages.

If you have multiple phones, having a single number to reach them all can make you and your callers' lives a bit easier and it can save space on your business card by not having to list separate numbers. The concept is simple: people are trying to reach you -- not one of your phones -- and Google Voice lets you decide how to route the calls.

The simultaneous ring feature can also be used by groups. Team HOPE, a support network for families of missing children, gives callers a GrandCentral number that rings the phones of several staff members to be sure calls are always answered.

I've been using a very similar "simulring" feature on Vonage for several years and like the fact that I get to control where my calls are forwarded. Both Google and Vonage let your configure forwarding from the web but Google also allows you to assign a temporary forwarding number directly from the phone. That could come in handy if you suddenly find your cell phone out of range but have access to another number where you can be reached.

I am afraid that what will be the future of VoIPs like Vopium, Jajah, Truphone and others....???

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