Being the week before the Holidays hasn’t slowed things on the internet. Crowd favorite, Dropbox made it to 1.0, Blekko added one more feature to its arsenal of three, Disqus launched user centric dashboard, Facebook launched Instant Personalization with TripAdvisor & blocked all j.mp URLs, LinkedIn now has groups, Mint is going to teach financial management to kids, Yahoo to shut down its video service and Mark Zuckerberg found himself on the cover of TIME Magazine.
Read on for some of this week’s best web app news and updates you might’ve missed!
Dropbox Hits 1.0!
Dropbox 1.0
I use Dropbox on all my computers and iPhone every single day, and until this blog post showed up, I had no idea that I was using an app that has not even crossed a full version number. That actually is the strength of Dropbox — it just works! The major features of the latest version are selective sync and extended attribute sync. A lot of bug fixes, a refined installer, enhanced usability and stability also come with 1.0.
Blekko Goes Social
Blekko Goes Social
The newest search engine in the block is adding one feature at a time and that too at a very leisurely pace! You can now search for links your friends have liked and can bunch them together as a slashtag for looking them up later, quickly. You’ll need to be logged into your Facebook account to get this feature going.
Disqus Launches Commenter Dashboard
Disqus New Features
Disqus, the third party commenting plugin is a great way to keep track of all the comments you have left till date. Few days ago they launched a user centric dashboard from where you can track your personal comments and the replies you have got. You also can manage, edit, and delete your own comments from the dashboard. Find interesting comments from other people? You can now follow them just like the way you do on Twitter.
Facebook Launches Instant Personalization On TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor Facebbok Integration
After bringing Instant Personalization to Docs.com, Clicker, Bing etc. Facebook has added travel recommendation portal TripAdvisor to that coveted list. This integration will help you tap your friends’ travel experiences and plan your perfect trip. Now it will be easy to find out where they’ve been and where they think you should go. As with other Instant Personalization enabled sites, you do not have to login to see the results.
LinkedIn Now Has Groups
LinkedIn Open Groups
Professional social network LinkedIn has announced the launch of Open Groups for its members to interact collectively. With the new Open Groups, all discussions can be viewed by anyone on the web, found on any search engines, and can be shared on other social networking platforms like Twitter, in addition to LinkedIn. However, it is upto the group owner to decide if it has to remain open to everyone or not.
Facebook Blocks All j.mp Links
Facebook blocks j.mp URLs
Short URLs are the easiest way for spammers and malware peddlers to spread their crapware to unsuspecting users. Apparently 70% of such malicious links are hosted at bit.ly’s custom short URL j.mp. Hence Facebook is blocking all j.mp links from the social network until they and the bit.ly team find a solution.
Mint Offers Personal Finance Curriculum To Students
Even after their acquisition by Intuit, Mint.com continues to be of great use to people. Mint, in collaboration with Scholastic is creating a new way to help kids develop good money management skills – by interactive games and free classroom materials for middle school teachers, students and families. Students who use the material will learn how to set goals and budgets with real life examples, such as getting a babysitting job to save for a bicycle. A worthy cause that needs a round of applause!
Yahoo Video to be Shut Down
Yahoo Video to Shut Down
Yahoo is on a shutting down and firing spree. After angering millions of people of across the globe with its decision to “sunset” the famous bookmarking service del.icio.us, this week they have decided to shut down Yahoo Videos. There is no point in running this service in the YouTube era and even Google shut down its own product after they acquired YouTube. You can download the videos you have uploaded till March 2011 and after that all content will be removed.
Mark Zuckerberg Is TIME Person Of The Year
Mark Zuckerberg has had a dream year – first a Hollywood blockbuster and now a TIME cover! He has been awarded this honor for connecting more than half a billion people and mapping the social relations among them, for creating a new system of exchanging information and for changing how people live their lives. Go Facebook go!
Share Your Thoughts!
What news from the app universe grabbed your attention in the past few days? How long do you think before another online entrepreneur makes the TIME cover?