Buzz Makes Move to Generate More User Interest

Twitter recently launched some new features for suggesting users to follow. The more people of interest you have to follow, the more useful you're bound to find the service. The same applies to Google Buzz, which is probably why Google decided to release a similar feature.

A Buzz Post from the Google Buzz Team says:

One of the things we've heard from avid Buzz users is that you're interested in finding more good people to follow. So starting today, the next time you load up the Buzz tab in Gmail, you may see just that: suggestions for new people you might be interested in following.

These suggestions are based on your frequent email/chat contacts, your public connections on other networks, and their activity on Google Buzz. Only people who have public Google profiles will appear as suggestions. If you see a suggestion you like, you can choose to follow them right from there. If you never want to see a suggestion for a particular person again, click "Ignore."

Buzz has been the subject of a great deal of criticism and skepticism since its launch. Once Google announced it was shutting down Google Wave, many began to predict that Google Buzz wouldn't be too far behind. Google hasn't shown any signs thus far that this will be the case. In fact, the company has been making moves (most notably with the Buzz API) to make the service more useful and better ensure it has a future.

How long that future lasts remains to be seen, but I wouldn't expect it to go away anytime soon.

Google Commits To "Canary Build" Of Chrome

Adventurous Google Chrome fans who are ready to try something beyond the stable, beta, and developer builds now have a fourth option.  Google recently announced what it's calling the "canary build," presumably in reference to the poor little birds that were once used as early warning systems in mines.

The purpose of the new canary build is in some ways similar.  Mark Larson, an engineering manager at Google, explained in a Google Groups thread, "The data we get back from canary users - especially crash statistics - helps us find and fix regressions faster."

Unlike miners' canaries, canary build users won't be screwed if things go wrong, though.  Google's made it possible for people to run two Chrome builds side by side, and Larson stated, "When something doesn't work on the canary, I can just fall back to my Beta Google Chrome."

There are some benefits to embracing the canary build, too.  Larson wrote, "[W]e're working on making it update as often as we have successful nightly builds. . . .  I recommend it for anyone who wants to help test the latest Chrome features."

So using the canary build of Google Chrome doesn't have to be a selfless act sure to end in (figurative) death.

Just note before trying to dive in that, at the moment, the canary build is only available for Windows, and it's not possible to set it as your default browser.

Microsoft Launches Limited Beta of New Security Essentials

Microsoft announced the beta for its next version of Microsoft Security Essentials today. Among the new features are:

- Windows Firewall integration
- Enhanced protection for web-based threats
- New protection engine
- network inspection system.

The new protection engine provides enhanced detection and cleanup features with better performance, according to the company. The network inspection system offers protection against network-based exploits. As far as web threats, Security Essentials integrates right with Internet Explorer.

The beta can be downloaded here (though some have apparently been having problems doing so). Microsoft offers a workaround here.

The limited beta is available in the U.S., Israel, and Brazil (the beta will also be available in China in Simplified Chinese later this year). It's available to genuine Windows users on a first come, first serve basis.

Apple To Address iPhone 4 Problems Friday

pple is holding a press conference tomorrow at 10 a.m. Pacific Time to address the issues surrounding the iPhone 4 and it antenna problem.

Many users of the iPhone 4 have reported weak reception when it's held a certain way, leading to it being called the "iPhone 4 death grip."



Earlier this week Consumer Reports said it could not recommend the iPhone 4, but did mention attaching duct tape to the antenna gap to remedy the reception issues.

"Apple needs to come up with a permanent-and free-fix for the antenna problem before we can recommend the iPhone 4," Consumer Reports said.

The controversy surrounding the iPhone has even attracted the attention of Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) who said in a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs that the solutions offered to fix the problem have been "insufficient."

"The burden for consumers caused by this glitch, combined with the confusion over its cause and how it will be fixed, has the potential to undermine the many benefits of this innovative device," Schumer wrote.

"To address this concern, I ask that Apple provide iPhone 4 customers with a clearly written explanation of the cause of the reception problem and make a public commitment to remedy it free-of-charge. The solutions offered to date by Apple for dealing with the so-called "death grip" malfunction-such as holding the device differently, or buying a cover for it-seem to be insufficient." source: www.webpronews.com/topnews/

More Cloud Announcements from Microsoft

Yesterday Microsoft had plenty of news coming out of its Worldwide Partner Conference, and today the news continues.

The company's new channel chief, Jon Roskill, addressed the Microsoft partner community for the first time, and unveiled business strategies and resources to help partners utilize the cloud (a major theme of Microsoft's during the event).

"The industry is at an inflection point, and Microsoft is leading the charge through what will be one of the biggest industry transformations of our time," said Roskill. "Partners have always been fundamental to Microsoft's business, and we are committed to helping our partners adapt and find the right cloud opportunities so we can grow and succeed together."

During the keynote, Roskill detailed partner opportunity guides for cloud services, the new Microsoft Cloud Essentials Pack and Microsoft Cloud Accelerate Program designation, as well as new solution incentives for partners. More from Roskill here.

Andy Lees, senior VP of Microsoft's Mobile Communications Business, announced that Windows Phone 7 will be complemented in the cloud by a new Windows Phone Live site. This will include a "Find My Phone" feature that lets users find and manage a missing phone with map, ring, lock and erase capabilities (BlackBerry just unveiled a similar security app as well).

Also today, Microsoft is launching Practice Accelerator aimed at making training and offering IP more accessible to partners, and Intuit is developing an SDK for Windows Phone 7.

Google Expands Its Reach With YouTube Leanback

Forget scooting forward, typing a fresh search query, playing with the mouse, and then pushing back again between clips. YouTube Leanback has debuted, and it's meant to make watching consecutive YouTube videos a more relaxed and uninterrupted experience.

YouTube Leanback qualifies as one of a number of projects meant to take Google into new markets and different parts of the average person's life. Consider that Chrome OS is supposed to make a splash on desktops, YouTube Mobile's targeted at cell phones, and Google TV is supposed to make the company a central fixture in living rooms.

In fact, YouTube Leanback might even turn out to be a sort of beta version of Google TV, since that isn't too close to arriving.

Anyway, if you haven't already guessed based on its descriptive name, a post on the YouTube Blog explained that YouTube Leanback, which is itself in beta, "is all about letting you sit back, relax and be entertained. Videos tailored to your interests play as soon as you visit the site and they play in full screen and high definition, continuously."

The post later explained, "This feed is based on your YouTube settings and preferences, including content from your subscriptions and videos your friends are sharing on Facebook (assuming you've connected your YouTube account to your Facebook account)."

As for the interface, everything can be controlled using only arrow keys, and you can get an idea
of what the whole thing looks like thanks to the following screenshot, which YouTube sent to WebProNews.

This should go over well with individuals who spend a lot of time on YouTube. It's likely to inspire more people to try watching YouTube on a proper TV, too.

Of course, YouTube for Television was introduced in January of last year, and YouTube XL was released about five months later, so Google's not at all guaranteed to achieve success here.