WhatsApp allows communication between different devices

For those still unfamiliar with WhatsApp, its a mobile messenger that automatically scans your phonebook for people who are already on it and lists them when you open it. I was surprised to see at least 20% of my contacts already using WhatsApp when I installed and ran it for the first time. WhatsApp requires you to be on the internet for it to work…you can not only sent messages on WhatsApp but also send files attachments. I have shared quite a few pictures seamlessly through it.

The best part of WhatsApp is that its available for every mobile platform – Android, iPhone, Symbian, Windows mobile etc. The downside? Its free only for the first year.

In comes Facebook Messenger

In a blog post yesterday, Facebook announced new features and improvements to its mobile application Facebook Messenger. The new update allows users to see who is online, who’s on mobile and when the other person is typing.

New support has been added for 22 new languages on Android, and 12 new languages on iOS. Facebook Messenger is already available on iPhone (including iOS5) and Android, and now it’s available on BlackBerry. Beluga, the system behind Facebook Messenger, was supposed to be the BlackBerry Messenger for non-BlackBerries. In an ironic twist of fate, that system has made its way to BlackBerry through Facebook.

We might be in for a kick and a shake as the world’s largest social network, aka Facebook is set to make waves with what could be its very own Music Service.

Facebook has told media executives in recent days that it will begin letting online music services such as Spotify AB and Rdio Inc. publish user activity on Facebook pages, much like actions such as adding friends or “liking” websites. The move is part of a larger effort at Facebook to improve the discovery of all types of media content on the site. If finalized, the changes could be announced at Facebook’s f8 developer conference in late September.

Facebook spokesman Larry Yu would not comment directly on those reports or what’s coming for f8, but said in a statement that “many of the most popular music services around the world are integrated with Facebook and we’re constantly talking to our partners about ways to improve these integrations.”

The Facebook initiative is designed to integrate the social-media giant more closely with services that let users stream free music or an unlimited amount of music for a monthly fee. By contrast, Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. recently started “cloud” music services that let users upload their personal music collections to remote servers and listen to them remotely, and Apple Inc. is preparing to start a similar offering.

In some cases, music services could create a player that would sit within Facebook, letting users hear music without leaving the site. However, the music itself would still be delivered through the third-party service, which users would be required to log in to before listening. Such players wouldn’t be mandatory, these people said, so that if a user wanted to listen to a Facebook friend’s Spotify playlist, that person might need to switch applications to hear it.

I was spammed with this by at least four different people today on my Facebook wall. Note that in this particular instance the compromised friend’s account was not only posting this on everyone’s wall but was also writing their name. So your spam just got personal! Now as soon as you click the link, it sets off a chain reaction..compromising your own account and spamming the Facebook wall of all your friends.

A blog post on this was therefore highly required. Please read below:

5 Steps to avoid Facebook Spam

1. Recognise the language: If you notice closely all Facebook spam links have something in common – all of them use sensational language to make us click the stuff. You know, like Fox news…So if you’re one of those gullible people who love clicking, please put this filter in your head. Sensational language may equal SPAM.
2. Check your Facebook news feed: In 90% of the cases of Facebook spam. your friend’s compromised account will automatically be posting the spam post or link on the wall of everyone in their friend list. You will be able to see that your friend posted the same link to your mutual friends. Mark that activity as suspicious…another spam filter for your head.
3. Hover the mouse: In many cases, you will apply the filter in step 1 and 2 and delete that spammy post from your wall or mark it as spam. If  you are still tempted to check that link and think that its genuine, just hover the mouse pointer on that link. In most cases, you will be able to see the exact URL where the link will take you in the browser’s status bar. For example, if it’s a shared from Lughole.net, you will be able to see the full URL of the story e.g. lughole.net/internet/5-steps-to-avoid-facebook-spam. If the link looks shady, do not click! Just go to the next step…Also, if you don’t see the URL in your browser’s status bar on hovering the link, it means its been hidden by a JavaScript and it’s definitely spam!
4. Mark as SPAM: Yes. Whether it’s after Step 1, 2 or 3 when you come to the conclusion that its a spam which has been posted on your wall, you should click the hidden cross button which will come towards the top right corner of that post/link when you hover your mouse pointer there, and then hit “mark as spam.”  It will be automatically deleted from your wall. Its better than simply deleting it because you’re notifying the Facebook team of the latest spam. The sooner they filter it out the lesser the number of accounts that will be compromised.
5. Let them know: If you notice that a friend’s account is sending out spam to everyone’s wall (as in step 3), there’s a chance they are not online at the moment and they don’t know. In such a case call up him or her and tell them that their account has been compromised and they better put up a status asking friends not to click on the link…because its spam.

There you have it. So if you are pissed from all the spam on your Facebook wall just because your friends are gullible enough to click anything and everything, share this post on their wall. They will love you for it.

The upside is that Facebook has launched it, but the downside is that this service is currently open by invitation. However, I’m going to tell you exactly how you can an invite for the new Facebook messaging service integrating email, messaging and chat all at once.

Mark Zuckerberg, the company founder, unveiled what he called a “convergent” modern messaging system on Monday that “handles messages seamlessly across all the ways you want to communicate.”

“It is true that people will be able to have facebook.com email addresses, but this is not email,”

“It handles email.”

Zuckenberg was speaking at the event held in the US city of San Francisco.

The intensifying rivalry between Facebook and search engine Google is expected to play a crucial role in shaping the future of the Internet.

Now here’s how you can get an invite for facebook’s next generation messaging service:

1. Simply go to http://www.facebook.com/about/messages
2. Log in if you aren’t already logged in
3. Click the green button that says “send me an invite”

You will shortly receive an invitation to try out the new system before everyone else does.

If you want to thank me for this bit of information, please share it on Facebook ;)

According to reports, Jackson suffered a heart attack at his Beverly Hills home in Los Angeles and was rushed to UCLA hospital. Apparently his breathing had stopped.

While the LA times inititally claimed that MJ was in coma, it later reported to have quoted doctors as saying that he is now dead. British television channel SKY news also confirmed that the star had died. But BBC refused to confirm whether Michael Jackson had died or not till it got any such intimation from his family or the doctors treating him.

So while the majority of the media now believes Jackson is dead, the BBC is creating hopes in the hearts of fans that all may not be lost, yet. However they are reporting that ‘other news organisatons’ have reported Jackson to have left his mortal coil.

MJ was given CPR and treated in the ambulance while on the way to hospital. Even as I write I’m listening to the BBC live, who say that crowds have started thronging the hospital and the star’s Beverly Hills mansion.

The BBC confirmed at 11:44pm BST that Michael Jackson is indeed dead. A great loss for the music industry.

Thankfully, clutter days are numbered. Facebook is disclosing more details about the planned redesign for its core member profile pages, as it attempts to regain the layout’s orderly, streamlined look that had been one of its hallmarks and a differentiator from competitors like MySpace and Orkut.

Having nearly tripled its audience and added about 20,000 new applications over the past year, Facebook Inc.’s popular online hangout is about to undergo a housecleaning.

Visitors who can’t stand the clutter that’s been piling up will be glad to see that the site’s new look sweeps disparate bits of information into categories marked by tabs at the top of each user’s customized home page.

The latest plans in Facebook’s ongoing redesign efforts call for profile pages to evolve from a single repository of content and applications into a tabbed interface.

The goal is to let users organize in these tabbed sub-pages the various components of their profiles, such as the activity feed, photos, personal information and applications.

Facebook members can see the latest screenshots in this album

Despite the coming changes, which will appear in the next few weeks via an “opt-in” beta test rollout, Facebook is keen to stress that the final version of the profile overhaul will be influenced by subsequent feedback and comments gathered from those putting the new design through its paces.