Sarah Haskins in Target Women: Online Dating

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Love might be in the air, but it's much easier to catch on the internet. Find your perfect match and be adorable with them all the time. Or at least in commercials.

For more Sarah Haskins http://current.com/topics/88794117/sarah_haskins/new/0.htm
For more Target Women http://current.com/topics/88813968/target_women/new/0.htm

Target Women is a recurring segment on Current TV's weekly television show, infoMania. In each episode of Target Women, Sarah Haskins takes a look at the often-ridiculous way the media reaches out to women.

infoMania is a half-hour satirical news show that airs on Current TV. The show puts a comedic spin on the 24-hour chaos and information overload brought about by the constant bombardment of the media. Hosted by Conor Knighton and co-starring Brett Erlich, Sarah Haskins, Ben Hoffman, and Sergio Cilli, the show airs on Thursdays at 10 pm Eastern and Pacific Times and can be found online at current.com/infomania. And make sure to check out our facebook profile for special features at http://infomaniafacebook.com.

India's Formula 1 car

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India's Formula 1 car
Bollywood actor Dipika Padukone poses with Force India's Formula 1 car during a press conference in Mumbai


Bollywood actor Dipika Padukone poses with Force India's Formula 1 car during a press conference in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009. India is expected to host a Formula 1 race in New Delhi in 2011. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

Random things about Twitter

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We took it upon ourselves to mash up that application with the other online obsession of the moment, Twitter.
1. The first Twitter prototype took about two weeks to build.
2. Ben Walker's "Twitter Song" was closing in on 300,000 views on YouTube as of Feb. 9.

3. Twitter is built using Ruby on Rails.  

4. The Twitter "Fail Whale" (the image you see when the site is overrun) has its own fan club. 

5. President Obama has 250K-plus followers on Twitter and is following about as many.

6. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone grew up in Wellesley, Mass., and worked at Wellesley College.

7. The company is based in San Francisco.

2. Twitter saw five times the tweets as usual on Inauguration Day. 

3. Dave Matthews Band, the Raconteurs and Bloc Party are among bands with Twitter accounts. 

4. Twitter's version of the Yellow Pages is called Twellow.  

5. Twitter started as a project within podcasting company Odeo in 2006.  

6. Twitter's team supposedly turned down a $500 buyout offer from Facebook.

7. Qwitter is a program that can alert you when someone stops following you on Twitter.  

8. A Nudge is a friendly reminder to update Twitter.

9. The Shorty Awards are being presented Feb. 11 to "the best producers of short content in 2008".  

10. Twitter CEO Evan Williams' Twitter name is "ev".

11. Twitter bought a company called Summize in 2008 to power its search engine.

12. Twestival is a multi-city funding raising event set for Feb. 12 and to be attended by Twitterers. 

13. Hackers and phishers validated Twitter's position in the world at the start of the year by attacking the system.  

14. Twitter sometimes limits the number of searches its users can conduct on the site.  

15. Before starting Twitter, Jack Dorsey developed software used by taxi companies and others for dispatch routing.

16. Twitter in February 2009 suspended a fake account purporting to be that of the Dalai Lama.  

17. Twitter was originally called twttr.=

18. The name Twitter comes from the idea of birds twittering, spitting out short noises.

19. Twitter was credited with helping an American jailed in Egypt with getting freed after he tweeted: "Arrested." 

Who’s Worried About Facebook? Not Twitter

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Om Malik 
nullOn Friday, Facebook released a series of upgrades to its platform, allowing developers access to many core functionalities, such as Facebook Video and Notes, and giving them the ability to integrate them into their applications. But it was the opening up of a Status API that got the most attention. Given that Twitter had rightfully rejected a $500 million offer from Facebook, it’s been perceived as a Twitter-killer.

VentureBeat did a good job of explaining
why the Facebook vs. Twitter meme was a case of severe hyperbole.

In reality the decision to give broader access to its status application programming interface (API) is a recognition by Facebook that status and presence are core to its future as a real-time web company. Facebook developers I spoke with explained that, by allowing third-party developers access to Status, Facebook is hoping to compete with Twitter, which has slowly started to steal developer mindshare away from other platforms.

When it comes to the Internet, real time web is obviously the next logical step. Status and presence are key components of this future, and it is good to see Facebook to recognize this and openup its platform in a more meaningful way.

But as TechCrunch points out, “status” has a different meaning on Facebook and Twitter. The guys at Twitter say they’re not too worried about Facebook’s moves. In response to my emailed query, Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, wrote:

It seems like great news for developers. No doubt we’ll soon see some very cool applications providing more ways for friends to share status, links, notes, and videos. Lots of folks are saying “hello” to Twitter every day. There is overlap in some aspects of our services but there is also plenty of room for Twitter to grow, evolve, and become relevant to many more lives around the world.
I totally agree. While the company still struggles with its identity (a service provider or a platform?), the Twitter API has some serious developer mindshare. On an almost daily basis I am contacted by developers who are doing interesting things with it (though admittedly the API has some serious challenges).

Brendan Gahan, my research assistant, points out on his blog that “with Open Social, Twitter, Android and iPhone, Facebook has more competition for developers than ever before. If they want the platform to survive, they’ve got to keep developers happy, as opposed to crushing their spirits and shrinking their profits.”
Status API is part of that move — killing Twitter will have to wait for a while!

[gigaom]

Twitter: Productivity Tool or Time Waster?

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There are two schools of thought to the Twitter value debate. For the uninitiated - or those who tried Twitter once or twice and just didn’t “get it” - Twitter is a nonsensical waste of time. For the Twitter converts, and dare I say “addicts,” Twitter is an essential part of their daily communications and work process, a can’t-work-without tool.

In this post I’m going to look at 10 ways Twitter can really help your productivity, and 10 ways that it can waste your time.

Here are ten ways Twitter can be a productivity tool:

1. The Brevity - Twitter only requires you to read 140 characters or less per tweet, which usually translates to under 30 words. A good Twitterer can pack a lot of punch with those few, carefully chosen words so you get easily-digestible chunks of information.

2. The Filtering - Some of the best Twitterers do little more than telling you what they are reading that is of interest. They are like human filters for any number of areas and can be extremely helpful when it comes to sifting through the noise to get the information needed to stay on top of your industry.

3. The Live Answers - For me, nothing is more helpful than the speedy responses Twitter provided to any technical question I have. I’m rarely stymied for long about issues with WordPress or questions about Facebook. One of my followers or friends knows the answer, or at least knows someone who does.

4. The Reminders - A simple Twitter application like Timer on Twitter can send you helpful reminder tweets any time. Send a direct message to @timer, and the program will tweet you back with a reminder after the time you specify. For example, send  “d timer 35 go to meeting” and you’ll get a message reminding you in 35 minutes to get to that meeting.

5. The Alerts - Need to keep up with what people are Twittering about your clients, your company or you? Set up alerts on Twilert to notify you of the results of key word searches. I set them up to arrive at the end of each day and often the results lead to additional business contacts as well as new fans, followers and potential customers for my clients.

6. The Network - There is something special about my Twitter network that is hard to define. The feeling of connectedness and immediacy on Twitter is far greater than on Facebook or LinkedIn, for example. Even when it comes to touching base with my virtual team, Twitter seems much more direct than even email at times (for those members of the team who have embraced Twitter, of course).

7. The “Viral-ness” - Have you felt the power of the retweet yet? When it comes to spreading the word about something, you can often do it more quickly and efficiently by simply requesting a retweet and then watch your message go viral. For greatest effectiveness, you need to be willing to return the favor, as appropriate.

8. The Multiple Platforms - There is something to be said for the ability to access Twitter in many different ways. While many of us stick to a single platform for the majority of our Twittering, the fact that it is so portable (on my iPhone), so flexible (like the way you can access multiple accounts at once with an app such as Twhirl), so dashboard-like (with an app like Tweetdeck), so mobile (via plain vanilla SMS), and so easy (via the Web) makes Twitter a pervasive tool that you don’t ever have to be without.

9. The Integration - As more applications use Twitter in clever ways (like the project management tool Joint Contact) or develop Twitter-like tools (like Yammer), just by knowing how to use Twitter effectively you are developing a new skillset that will be useful beyond Twitter.com, and help ease learning curves when adopting new applications.

10. The Love - Feel the Twitter Love. You feel it when you tweet a link to your latest blog post or podcast. You feel it when you ask your followers for support on a project. Twitter is full of love that can ease a web worker’s workload (quickly identifying outsourcing talent), can ease a web worker’s frustration (nothing better than a good sounding board), and ease a web worker’s soul (like ego-stroking tweets from twittering fans).

Just to be fair and balanced, here are 10 ways Twitter can be a time waster:
1. The Brevity - Trying to compose a meaningful message in 140 characters or less can turn into a chore. Especially when you end up slicing and dicing your tweets with surgical precision, trying to shave off a character or two and not change the meaning of your tweet. (Don’t worry: eventually, tweeting becomes second nature.)

2. The Mindless Chatter - Yes, some people tweet what they had for breakfast. Yes, some even tweet when they are in the bathroom. No, you don’t have to listen.

3. The Antics - People on Twitter like to have fun. Whether it is Stripper Fridays, or some other avatar-changing wave, or retweeting a link to watch the Shiba Inu puppies, there are those who love playing on Twitter. You can ignore them or unfollow them if their game-playing and fun-loving tweets really become disruptive to your work flow.

4. The Following Emails - I have a love/hate relationship with the emails that tell me who is following me. I get a charge out of seeing the diverse people who chose to pay attention to my tweets and find several interesting new people to follow in the process. But going through those emails is a big time suck. Whatever you do, don’t subscribe to Qwitter to see who unfollowed you and when. Those emails will drive you crazy and inevitably batter your ego to a pulp.

5. The Firehose - If you follow a lot of people, there is no way you will be able to pay attention to all the tweets you receive. Don’t even try. Come up with your own way of digesting the Twitterstream, or pare down to just the handful of Twitterers who you really care about or who have the information you need to know.

6. The Vaccuum
- There is nothing worse than putting out an important Tweet to which you are hoping to receive a response and then getting nothing back. When there is nobody responding to your questions or requests, you can just feel time ticking away with nothing being accomplished. At times like those, it might be more efficient to send out a LinkedIn question instead.

7. The Compulsion - If you are the type of person who is constantly checking emails just in case you received another one, then you may be the type of person who compulsively keeps check for replies. Has someone @’d you? Has someone DM’d you?

8. The Sea of SMS - Note to everyone just starting out with Twitter: do not turn on SMS to receive tweets. If you do activate SMS, do so with the greatest of care and only if you have an unlimited SMS plan. SMS’d tweets can cripple productivity by interrupting you every other minute. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

9. The Fail Whale - Even though Twitter does seem a lot more stable of late, there is nothing that puts a damper on the immediacy and speed of Twitter communications than the dreaded - but awfully cute - Fail Whale. While it is hard to fathom so many of us putting up with that kind of failure, somehow we all work around it.

10. The Hate - When there is negativity on Twitter, the speed of retweeting and Google pickup can suddenly thrust you into the non-productive realm of crisis communications and reputation management. Paying attention to what is being said about you on Twitter and throughout the social media-sphere is smart, but letting the bad stuff get to you and drag you down can stop you getting important things done.

Which side of the Twitter value debate are you on? Is Twitter good for your productivity or a waste of your time, and why do you feel the way you do?

Fake Dalai Lama exiled from Twitter

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Microblogging service Twitter has suspended an account that claimed to be run by the Dalai Lama, according to an Agence France-Presse story.

The account purporting to belong to the Tibetan spiritual leader was only a few days old, but had already attracted tens of thousands of followers. To date, it's probably the most high-profile case of a bogus Twitter account actually getting the boot from the service.

Fake accounts that spoofed media personality Ira Glass and comedian Stephen Colbert gained notable followings until they were unmasked. In both of those cases, the impersonators offered to give the accounts to the real Glass and Colbert, but do not appear to have transferred ownership.

In the case of the Dalai Lama account, Twitter executives said that the decision to nix it was because it violated the company's terms of service.

The account, after all, actually claimed to be real: its inaugural "tweet" was, "Welcome to the official Twitter page of His Holiness the Dalai Lama--administered by The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama." The AFP story did not give any indication as to whether the real Dalai Lama or his staff had taken issue with the fake Twitter account.

A tea testing centre closer home

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Silchar, Feb10 : Tea growers of Assam, particularly those who export their produce, can heave a sigh of relief with the Tea Board of India taking an initiative to establish a state-of-the-art tea testing centre next door in Calcutta in association with the Tea Research Association (TRA).
The proximity to Calcutta will help the exporters in a big way as all along tea was required to be sent to Hyderabad for testing which was a costly affair.
The secretary-general of the Indian Tea Association (ITA), Monojit Das Gupta, said the need for such a testing facility closer to the country’s largest tea producing region — Assam produces more than 50 per cent of the country’s tea — had long been felt by the tea industry as the importers were insisting on testing of the various pesticide residues.
The testing facility in Calcutta will also come in handy for growers in the Dooars and Darjeeling in West Bengal. 
Das Gupta said such testing procedures, using sophisticated technology now being undertaken in a scientific private laboratory in Hyderabad, entailed an exorbitant cost.
The tea planters’ community in the Northeast had been trying to impress upon the Union commerce ministry for quite some time about the urgency of installing a tea testing centre in Calcutta, he said.
Das Gupta said the tea board had already set up a panel of experts to examine the details of setting up of such a centre, including its total estimated outlay. 
The ITA has urged the Centre to consider the inclusion of Black Tea, which has also much export potential, in the scheme of things of Vishesh Krishi Gram Udoyog Yojana project. 
Das Gupta said the Union commerce ministry had already approved the proposal mooted by the tea industry to observe the centenary celebrations of the TRA next year with a grant of Rs 20 crore. 
He said this central fund would mainly be used in the execution of various schemes for the upgrade of the infrastructure of the research centres of the TRA, scattered in various tea growing areas in the country, in the next two years.
The secretary general said the India International Tea Convention (IITC), scheduled to be held in Kochi in Kerala in a three-day conclave from February 19, would be an annual feature of the Indian tea industry.
The sponsors of this big jamboree, he added, had decided that such a gala annual event of the Centre and the tea industry would be alternatively held in north and south India. 
Guwahati hosted one such convention in November 2007.

Twitter of India, About India

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Twitter of India, About India