The Ugly New Facebook Chat Box

It seems the Facebook people are running out of innovative ideas or they are overdoing themselves, thinking that by changing the chat interface would be cool to users. I don't want to judge them so quickly but I can't help it when one of the features in Facebook which I often used suddenly becomes suck.

In the old Facebook chat box you could see all the friends who are online but in the new chat box even those who offline are appearing in the side bar. The problem is you no longer see all the 'friends' who are online. What you now see are the list of names of those whom you have "messaged recently or most number of times conversed with", whether they are online or not, according to Facebook sources.

The new chat interface was activated last July. So, probably by now there are already thousands of Facebook users ranting; calling for the return to the old chat box. Some are even saying the move was stupid and that Facebook will be going the way of My Space if they don't wise up

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But fret no more chat lovers! I have searched and found how you can disable the new Facebook chat box and bring back the old good chat box. All you have to do is to download and install the extension for disabling the ugly new Facebook chat.

 

Choose the extension link for your browser:

For Firefox version click here

For Chrome version click here

For Opera version  click here

Snaptu: One Download Many Free Apps

Formerly known as Mobica, Snaptu is a free mobile application from an Israeli start up that can run on almost all types of Web enabled phones.It bundles all your favorite apps like Facebook, Twitter and Google Search among others in one single app. No matter what phone you have, with Snaptu you can enjoy ultra fast browsing, so you can save time; simple and easy to use.

The amazing array of functionality of Snaptu goes further by also allowing the users to add virtually any RSS feeds of any blogs and news sites be it Mashable, Technorati, CNN or BBC. You just type the URL of RSS feed then click the add button.

By January 2011 the application has already 27 million users around the world and still rising. On my own account it bundles more than 30 individual apps at present with some more room to spare.

The product's popularity can be attributed to the fact that it can run on almost any model of phones provided they can access the Internet. Snaptu runs on Java platform, so because of this content providers and application developers can able to write a one time application on Snaptu and then run it on the mobile web. So Snaptu does not run on the mobile phone but on the internet servers.

In March 2011 the company was acquired by Facebook for an estimated 60-70 million dollars. This only goes to show the growing importance of Snaptu on the social network industry. Facebook hopes to further expand its social network influence globally by putting its app on the most rudimentary phones on the market.

 To download  Snaptu  click here then install it on your phone.
 

Facebook email: The new kid in town

Mark Zuckerberg actually does not want to call the new Facebook messaging system an email in the traditional sense. Neither would he term it as a “Gmail killer" like what has been speculated in the media. Mr. Zuckerberg said it is more than Gmail.
The latest Facebook product has been in the works for 15 months by a team of 15 engineers headed by Andrew Bosworth who said that it is the "biggest engineering team ever put up by Facebook for a new product.
It was Zuckerberg's interview with high schoolers, whenever he got the chance to talk to them that drove the Facebook chief to create the seamless messaging system. However, it was not what the teenagers are using as a way to communicate with one another that gave Zuckerberg the impetus, but rather it was what they are not using, the email.
According to the youngsters they are not using email because it was too slow and not real time. "It adds a lot of friction and cognitive load to the process of sending email and communicating", adds Zuckerberg.
Facebook messaging or Facebook email integrates the various messaging platforms, IM, sms, email into a single conversation thread with the other person or groups you are communicating to.
This feature is called seamless messaging and one of the three features included in the Facebook product which the conventional email does not have. The other feature is the conversation history where users can keep track of their communications over multiple platforms in one single history.
Social Inbox is another feature of the new messaging system. Here, the users' messages are stored in three separate categories: the "messages", where your most important messages are kept; the "others", for those which are not so important, and the "junk", where messages that are not valuable are thrown in.
For the general users of Facebook who are eager to try the new system, they will have to wait a little further. The initial launch will have the members of the press to try and test the product first and then give their feedback. The address @facebook.com will be given entirely optional for Facebook users who may wish to sign up.